


Life Is Never Easy When The Hero Of Paris Is A Woman

by cottagecore_tea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Aged-Up Character(s), Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, F/F, F/M, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, M/M, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Needs a Break, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, POV Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Paris (City), Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Summer, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29166363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cottagecore_tea/pseuds/cottagecore_tea
Summary: okay quick disclaimer for anyone with issues with the story 1) each event mentioned is based on real life experiences either from myself or women close to me 2) this will of course also mention issues men face due to gender inequalities 3) there are sensitive topics involved but absolutely nothing explicit happens as I want to show more the day to day issues women face, but there will be trigger warnings for any upsetting scenesOkay so after reading that rather dire disclaimer I would like to emphasise, this is still a fun summer romance story! But, just like real life, has its ups and downs Marinette will face being a super hero. Now for the real Description.The summer before university is always a stressful time but with moving house, meddling friends, and perhaps a little too much alcohol, maybe, just maybe, these two idiots can get over their anxieties and finally allow them to accept the love they deserve. This summer Marinette won't only be battling akumas, but also her own emotions as she fights to take control of her life, no matter how tough it may feel.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur, Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Max Kanté/Lê Chiến Kim, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 23
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1: why is it always me?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so once again would like to reiterate if any of these themes appear upsetting to you or are perhaps triggering, I will be putting trigger warnings before these scenes. In addition to this I would like to make it clear, this is not a male bashing story, men can be great... although I am a lesbian. Anyway! This is simply inspired by my university course in which I learn about the struggles of heroic woman which I thought was extremely interesting being a fan of this show! Oh also this is completely self indulgent and although I have a rough plan, I am completely open to suggestions of chapters you would like to see and I will do my best to include them in the plot as to make it more enjoyable, especially with us being stuck in this covid riddled world. I hope you all enjoy this little escape from reality.

“Last day of school you know what that means!” Shouted Nino, his fists pumping into the air.  
“Crippling debt and a lifeless 9 ‘till 5 job?” Marinette asked with a giggle.  
“Think positive dude. Never know, you could die before 20.”  
“Way to kick it to capitalism Mari.” Marinette whipped her head round to see Adrien standing behind her.  
A slight blush rose to her cheeks, “I... uh… What can I say? I’m a rebel.” 

Alya quickly ran over to join them as they made their way out of the class. “So who’s ready for the summer of their lives?”  
“You ask that ever year.” Marinette sighed, shrugging her bag onto her back.  
“Oh my sweet sweet croissant-”  
“Did you just call me a crois-”  
“Interrupting is rude little croissant. Now back to what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. This summer shall be like none other because we will have not only three whole months of summer thanks to universities late start, but also a whole flat to ourselves come mid July. And you know what that means?” She said with a smirk.  
“Video games and too much takeaway?”  
“Video games and too much takeaway!” Alya and Nino shouted in unison. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other with a similar bemused smile. 

Marinette couldn’t believe how lucky she was to be moving in with her best friends and in such a gorgeous apartment. She had been practically begging Adrien all year bribing him with the thought of fresh, home-made pastries each morning in bed, hoping he’d be able to influence his father to move out. And Mr Agreste was not an easy man. It took four shots of vodka and a copious amount of crippling anxiety but he finally did it. 

About three months ago, after his 18th birthday party, and a lot of begging, Adrien stormed up to his father’s office and threatened to totally quit the model industry and reveal how Paris’ most iconic fashion designer was actually a pretty neglectful father if he didn’t let Adrien move out with his friends and that they already had the money and a place they were looking at. Initially Mr Agreste had gone off at his son calling him every cruel name under the sun, but the next morning he woke up with a partner to his throbbing hangover. An email with an attachment to it. He clicked the link to find an unbelievably gorgeous four bedroom flat that had high ceilings and beautiful windows, one of which led to a small balcony with just enough space for a table and chairs. He scrolled down to see the’ SOLD’ on the listing. 

He soon received a second email stating a bunch of logistics Marinette could never be bothered remembering, except from the part where apparently the apartment had the best security in all of Paris. Oh! And attached had also been an annual itinerary for Adrien’s modelling plus an extra billion charity events Adrien was convinced had been put their to mainly spite him. Either way, when Adrien told her the next day at school she had broke down crying she was so overjoyed. Not just because she would be living with her best friends in a gorgeous flat, but she would also be getting Adrien out of that miserable house. She couldn’t wait!

“Mari….Marinette!” Marinette snapped her attention away from her thoughts, noticing a ringed hand was waving in front of her face. “What’s going on in that little brain of yours?” Adrien asked, bringing a hand down to her hair and ruffling it.  
She batted it off, unable to hide the smile on her face, “Oh nothing, I’m just happy.”  
Adrien’s hand paused, he instead dropped it to her shoulder, squeezing gently, with a small smile on his lips. “Me too.”

A loud bang and screaming could be heard from the football pitch just a few minutes away. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other with a look of shot until Mari shouted, “Uh I forgot I left my um… toothbrush in class.”  
As she ran back into the building to transform she heard Adrien shout, “Yeah I have to go um wash my cat!” 

She ran into an empty classroom, opening her bag so Tikki could be let out. “Ready Marinette?” “Ready. Tikki, spots on.”

Ladybug landed at the pitch as fast as she could only to find it utterly empty other than a singular football in the very center. She hesitated for a minute, sensing a trap, yet before she could even begin to think of a plan, Chat Noir came running over to her with a smile. “M’lady. Sorry to keep you waiting. So where’s our guy?”  
“That’s what I’m wondering.” 

Chat jumped onto his baton, lifting himself up into the air and surveying his surroundings. “Nothing to report from up here- OH!” Ladybug watched as he sprinted over to the ball, tumbling right beside it and poking it with a claw.  
“Stop!” she screamed, but it was too late. All of a sudden Chat was engulfed in the football, hopefully just trapped inside it and not anywhere else.

She slowly made her way over to it cursing the reckless cat. Just as she was a couple of feet away a loud voice echoed through the stadium, “What a shame. I thought it would be you I’d be capturing.” 

Ladybug looked up to find an akumatized man, dressed in a bright red football strip, his skin a dark green, and hand scrunched into a tight fist sitting in one of the stands. “Huh did you say something. How about you come down here and say it to my face.”  
The man jumped down so he was face to face with her, spitting on the ground, where another ball appeared “I am Striker and your Miraculous will be mine.” 

Next to her she could here a large bang and muffle shout, “Whatever you do don’t touch the balls… hehe.”  
Ladybug rolled her eyes at his crude shout, “I can see that Chat!”  
“Just trying to help.” 

She rolled her eyes turning her attention back to the akuma victim. “Right it’s the last day of school. I’m tired. You’re probably tired. Can we just do this the easy way?”  
A purple glow arose round his eyes as he glared at her, “Not a chance little girl. Now give me your miraculous!” His arm jutted out trying to grab her earrings which she dodged quickly, leaping out of his grasp.  
“Oh come on surely you have better things to do than chase me?”  
The man stopped and stared at her for a minute, “Actually I do… but it wouldn’t be very fair on you.”  
“Do tell.”  
“How about this. We play one game of football. If I score first, then I get your miraculous, if you, somehow, manage to beat me, I will happily allow you to free my akuma.”  
“Bring it on.” Ladybug dared. 

He kicked over his ball with a smirk, leaving Ladybug a little nervous to touch it. “Oh go on. I’m much too good at this game to worry about having to trick you.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, taking control of the ball and began to kick it to the goal behind him. Striker came running at her, quickly booting the ball away from her and into the other direction with a determined face. After a few minutes of chasing and slipping, Ladybug managed to once again gain control of the ball, running towards the goal with adrenaline filling her veins. She ran and kicked as hard as she could, sending the ball shooting fast into the air and flying into the goal letting out a victorious cheer. 

She turned round to him with a smile, “Now about that akuma.”  
A dark look filled strikers face, a glare sent right through her, “You cheating bitch.”  
“I won fair and square.” She spluttered.  
“You used your powers or something, I just know it. This is why girls stay out of football, you’re a fucking cheat.”  
“Someone’s a sore loser” she muttered to no one in particular. 

Realising he wasn't going to give up so easily she quickly observed him for any signs of an akumatised object when her eyes returned to the clenched fist. Not once during that game had she seen him open the hand. Quick to realise this was not going to be an easy fight, she shot her yo-yo in the air shouting “Lucky Charm!” 

Two pieces of cotton wool landed in her hands. This was going to be a tricky one. She looked around the stadium. A smile caught on her lips as she noticed the megaphones at the top of the stands. Not giving Striker a second to catch onto her plan, she ran up to it, swinging her yo-yo around the top and pulling herself to the top. Once she was there, she waited for Striker to follow he, which, of course, he did without hesitation. 

He ran up to her, using his footballs as stepping stones, spitting one out one after the other. Just as he was about to reach her she shoved the cotton buds in her ears and pulled on the wires in front of her until a loud screech was let out of the speakers. Striker shoved his hands over his ears in pain screaming as the noise continued. As his hand slammed onto his head a piece of paper fell out of his hand which she quickly used her yo-yo go wrap around it and pull it over. 

She tore it in half and in one swift motion, catching the akuma in it shouting “Time to de-evilize!” Ladybug watched as the now white butterfly flew away bidding it goodbye before throwing her earbuds in the air and cheering “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Butterflies flew across the stadium and once they vanished it now stood filled with people both on and off the pitch, among the players being Chat Noir. Relieved to see her partner safe and sound she turned to the victim with a smile, “I think this is yours.” She handed him the paper which he yanked out her hand with a scowl.  
“Yeah thanks.” He mumbled.

After making sure the boy got down safe, she ran over to Chat Noir and hugged him tightly. He hugged back just as hard, easing into her just as she pulled away and whacked him on the head. “Hey what was that for?” She simply glared at the cat for a minute as he awkwardly giggled. “Sorry for leaving you all alone with him.”  
“Yeah well next time maybe you can be the one to get called a bitch. Honestly. Whys it always me? Actually don’t answer that.” 

Her earrings began to beep, and with that she went to swing home to de-transform and have a long awaited nap. Just as she went to leap away however, Chat Noir pulled her back “Um My Lady. Before you go I should let you know I’m in London next weekend but will be back first thing Monday morning!”  
“Of course Chat, that’s no problem. Have fun!” She shouted as the spots grew fewer. Finally when she was home she flung herself into her bed. Three years of fighting akumas and it never got any less exhausting. As Marinette laid her head down on her cat pillow, Tikki snacked on a plate of macarons.


	2. Chapter 2: the man with the smelly bag

The next morning Marinette pulled herself out of bed with a groan, her muscles aching from another year of fighting. Half asleep she brushed her hair, placing it into its usual pigtails and dragged herself down to the bakery. For most of the morning she manned the register, her eyes half glued shut and body unable to fully hold itself up. 

Not in the mood for much else, she simply sat and people watched, her mind wandering as she did so. It had been a busy first few hours but now the bakery’s rush had rather calmed down. By the macarons stood a woman with a silk shirt Marinette had the great desire to draw, the warm lighting catching each ruffle so elegantly. Where the croissants sat, an old man with a bag that stunk especially of cheese hovered. 

The smell all too fondly reminded her of a certain black cat kwami. Through the years she had used Plagg just a few times, but each time she did, they became more and more in sync. Plus it was fun to slack off a little of the typical responsibilities which come from being ladybug. 

One thing she hates to admit, and if forced to would promptly move to the over country and change her name, was how much she had surprisingly missed Chat Noir’s flirting. Back when they were fifteen, he had told her he was dating some other girl and even once they inevitably broke up, he still held back his flirting, yet remained as cheeky as ever. The sad thing is, once he let go of his bravado, they became much closer and honest with each other, and with Marinette having to give up on her feelings for a certain blonde, she had slowly began to see her heart begin to ache for another. It was nothing she couldn’t handle though. And much like with Adrien, she would rather just suppress these feelings, rather than risk losing their friendship.

Her mind further wandered until a gruff cough snapped her back to reality. She looked up to see the old man standing in front of her, the stench of cheese much more fowl up close. He gave a wide smile as he paid for a cheese croissant. Upon handing him his change, the man’s wrinkled fingers lingered a little too long on hers, coarse, dry skin pressing into the tips of her fingers. His eyes darted to her hand, slowly surveying the rest of her until they met her own bluebell ones. “Thanks.” 

Marinette let out a sigh of relief as the awkward interaction appeared to be over when he then turned back to her with a smile, she did not like nor trusted, “I like girls with soft hands.” Before she even had time to process what just happened, the old man had left the shop, leaving Marinette to stand at the counter utterly confused, and honestly, creeped out.

Later as she headed to meet Alya for lunch, she felt herself caressing her hands, the smell of vanilla and sugar on them leaving her feeling nauseated. She dragged her nail across the skin, pulling and scratching at the pads of her fingers until they hurt. No matter how small the interaction had been, Marinette just could not get the interaction out of her head. The smell of rotten cheese, the crooked tooth that whistled when he spoke, the way his eyes ogled at her as though she was some sort of diamond in a jewellery store. 

These thoughts followed Marinette all the way to the restaurant. Eager to let go of the interaction and just enjoy her lunch, she ran over to an awaiting Alya. The taller girl was sitting at a small table outside, with a bush and tree almost arching over her. Marinette pulled out a chair and plopped down with a smile, “Hiya!”  
Alya looked up with an arched eyebrow, “Twenty minutes late.”  
Marinette sat in disbelief, “What? I left ten minutes early!”  
“Honestly girl, where does your mind go, this place is like ten minutes away from your house.” “Sorry, sorry. It’s been a strange day.” She sighed.  
“Wanna talk about it?”  
“Nah it’s nothing. So what’s up with you?” 

Alya, clearly eager to talk, leaned forward suspiciously, “So you know how Adrien is going to London this week?”  
“What!” Marinette shouted, in shock she didn’t know. How could she not know? She had that boy’s schedule memorised… as a friend does.  
“Calm down sugarplum. He’ll be back bright and early Monday morning.”

Well that was some uncomfortable deja vu. “I can’t believe he’s in London...”  
“That’s not even the juicy bit.” Alya whispered, now so close to Marinette she could smell the bloody shampoo she uses. “It’s rumored that Kagami will be there, and that she’ll be coming to a few other charity events right here in Paris.”  
“Oh that’s great! We have to take her out for lunch and drinks when she gets here!”  
Alya narrowed her eyes at her, as she sighed, “Aren’t you worried about her and Adrien getting back together?” 

Marinette’s hands began to play with her hair, unable to meet the journalist’s eyes. “Why would I be?” She mumbled.  
She watched as Alya reached over and grabbed her fidgeting hands. “Cut the crap Marinette.” “What do you want me to say?”  
“I want you to be honest with me!” Alya shouted, appearing to instantly regret it.  
Marinette rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair to put some distance between the two. “You want me to be honest. I can’t be jealous of Kagami. I don’t get to be. I never had the fucking guts to tell Adrien how I feel. And I won’t. I refuse to put myself through that again. I was practically killing myself in New York over him. The pain I felt was so harsh… I made my decision to move on and I refuse to go back on it. I just won’t.” Marinette could feel a sob at the back of her throat she refused to let out. Her legs were shaking under the table and eyes were glossy. 

This wasn’t how she was expecting this day to go. It seemed every time she was truly getting over him, something had to come and screw everything up. Sensing her friend’s sadness, Alya leaned back as well, her shoulders relaxing. “Look I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you through it all again. I just hate seeing this eat you up. No matter how much you deny it, it doesn’t mean those feelings aren’t there.”  
“I know that Alya, really, I know.” Marinette all but whispered. “Anyway what you in the mood for, I love the pasta from here!” She exclaimed, reaching for a menu and forcing a sense of ease.


	3. Chapter 3: never let alya pick the game

The Friday after Adrien had got back from London, Marinette had him, Alya and Nino over for one last sleepover in her house before they had to start getting ready to move. Tikki sat and chatted to her as she got everything ready, brining a massive board filled with pastries and sweets for them to all snack on as well as setting up the fairy lights Adrien had brought her back from London. The lights were shaped like small flowers, a few having tiny ladybugs sitting on their petals, the irony of which, made Marinette giggle every time. She left the main light off so the room was lit up in a slight pink hue of the lights.

She covered the floor in pillows and blankets and whipped up some hot chocolate for them arriving. Alya’s was made with dark chocolate and cinnamon, Nino’s milk chocolate and peppermint, Adrien white chocolate and plenty of marshmallows, herself dark chocolate with a sprinkle of chilli flakes, something Adrien was disgusted by yet insisted on stealing a sip of every time.

Just as she set down the last drink on the table, her door swung open with an ecstatic looking Alya in her doorway, “Sleepover time!” She screamed running over to the bluenette and bringing her into a tight hug. Adrien and Nino followed behind her, each boy eagerly looking at their mugs of hot chocolate with delight. 

A quick “Hi Marinette!” was shouted as they rushed to their drinks. Marinette watched as Adrien took a quick gulp of his drink, a small bit of whip cream getting on his nose. He moaned in delight, which Marinette 100% did not blush at… Quick to turn her attention away from, well, anything but that, she turned, collecting her breath and asked Adrien, “So how was your trip?” 

Adrien looked up from his mug with a shy grin. “It was, interesting to say the least.” The four sat down among the pillows all getting ready for the story.  
“Well Kagami was there which at first was a bit awkward but after the charity event she showed me an Instagram post of this MASSIVE”, he began flailing his hands in the air, emphasising the sheer size, “M&M store and after being on my father’s stupid diet for two weeks I was dying for some sweetness. So we sneaked out that night to this store-”  
“Woah sunshine has some rebellion in him after all!” Nino smirked.  
“You know each day you sound more and more like your girlfriend.” Adrien glared.  
“Nothing wrong with that.” Shouted Alya.  
“Okay so ANYWAYS we sneaked out and bought as much shit as we could then decided it would be a good idea to eat it all in one go back that the hotel.”

“Oh Adrien, no.” Marinette sighed, knowing first hand the perils of eating too much sugar.  
“Well safe to say I barely left the airplane's toilet for the flight back. Couldn’t keep a single bit of bread down.”  
“Your father must have been furious.” She muttered.  
“Ha, as if he even noticed. He flew back separately and didn’t see me again until Thursday.” His voice lulled a bit at this, his eyes refusing to meet his friends’.  
“I can’t wait until you move out.” Marinette said softly, grabbing his hand, her thumb lightly stroking it.  
“Yeah, me too.” He whispered back at her. “Okay enough of my daddy issues and emotional neglect, what movies have you got lined up for us?”

Apparently Marinette wasn’t the only one who was good at suppressing their feelings.

After four movies and numerous bowls of popcorn, the group decided to play truth or dare. Three guesses as to who’s idea it was. If you chose anyone but Alya, then you clearly don’t know the journalist very well. “Right my go first!”  
“Why do you always get to go first?” Marinette exclaimed.  
“Because I love to torture you, and with that… Marinette, truth or dare?” Marinette let out a groan, something in the back of her mind telling her Alya may have some ulterior motive for this game.

“Truth.”  
“Great! Who was your first kiss?”  
Marinette smirked, “Nino.”  
“What!” Adrien and Alya shouted, both their heads flipping to the DJ in utter shock.  
“Hey we were six and I bet her at a staring contest.”  
“Of course that’s how it happened.” Alya giggled, knowing her boyfriend all too well. 

“Well now it’s my turn and oh I wonder who I shall pick. Actually that’s a lie I know already! Adrien, truth or dare.”  
“Dare!” He said all too eagerly.  
“I dare you to hold water in your mouth for as long as possible without spitting it out and if you last less then two rounds ummm-”  
“Then I get to ask you a truth you must answer.” Alya interrogated.  
“Yes that! Wait I don’t trust you.” Marinette replied.  
“Trust me on this.”  
“Fine.” Adrien reached over for his water, filling his cheeks with as much as he could, already seemingly finding it difficult.

Nino snapped a quick picture of his friend murmuring how he looked like a hamster. They went to do the next dare but realised Adrien couldn’t physically answer it. Marinette went to her desk, grabbing a notebook and pen. She watched as the boy scribbled something down, his eyes glinting with mischief. He handed it over to Alya as she read out, “Truth or dare? Dare.” 

He took the notebook back, scribbled some more and handed it to her once again. “I dare you to show the last thing you googled on your phone.”  
“Easy.” The girl picked up her phone turning it around for the rest of the group to see.  
Marinette lent in trying to get a better view, rather confused by what she saw. “Is that… Ladybug and Chat Noir fan fiction?”  
“Yup and it is veryyy smutty.” 

Adrien and Marinette choked at this, the two whipping their heads to look at each other, surprised by the other’s reaction. Adrien grabbed the notepad again writing,“I wish I never asked.” This time Alya turned to Nino, “Your turn.”  
“Dare.”  
“I dare you to send a shirtless picture to a random person on your phone.”  
“Ha, easy enough.”

Marinette couldn’t control her giggles as she watched him lift his shirt as Alya took the picture and chose a contact at random. It took about ten seconds for Nino to get an angry phone call from his mother telling him that “She knows he is an adult and has the right to send whatever he likes, but next time, make sure he sends the pictures to Alya and not his poor mother.”

Adrien laughed so hard, the water gushed out his mouth and spluttered all over Marinette, who was currently clutching her stomach trying to muffle her laughter. As the water landed on her pyjama bottoms, she whipped her head round to Adrien and a dark look came over her, “You are dead Agreste.”

High on happiness, and slightly sleep deprived, she jumped on the boy without a second thought, tickling his sides. Underneath her, Adrien squirmed and laughed harder, begging her to stop. “Mari! Mari! Please stop!”  
“Hmm what was that? Sorry can’t hear you!” She shouted, now straddling the boy. 

Desperate for the torture to stop, he flipped her over glaring at Marinette. “My my, how the tables have turned.”  
“Don’t you dare.”  
“Huh what was that, sorry can’t hear you!” Marinette let out a loud snort as her pinned her hands back with one hand and tickled her with the other. This continued for a few minutes until a bright flash could be seen beside the. Marinette and Adrien turned their heads to their other two friends who were sitting with shit eating grins, a phone in their hands. “Alya!” Marinette shouted, all too quickly becoming aware of their position. 

A hot blush rose to her cheeks as she squirmed in embarrassment. It seemed at the same time, oh so timid sunshine boy, caught on as well, promptly jumping off of her and scratching the back of his head nervously. “Uh.. truth or dare Mari?”  
“Truth.”  
“What was the best kiss you’ve ever had?”

Marinette’s jaw dropped, shocked at her friends boldness. It dropped further when she realised what it was. A blush returned to her cheeks as she remembered the fight against Dark Cupid and the rushed kiss she had gave Chat Noir. No matter how innocent it was, something about it always brought butterflies to Marinette’s stomach. Sometimes when she was especially sad, that small memory would be there to cheer her up no matter how much she hated to admit it. Knowing she could never answer the question she said instead “Never mind. Dare.” 

All three of her friends looked at her with suspicion as she said this, clearly confused by her secretiveness. Adrien stared at her for a moment, as though trying to read her face.“Okay um… shit I don’t think I know any good dares.”  
“No worries I’ll help you out sunshine.” Alya said eagerly.  
“Marinette, swap clothes with the person to your right.”

Marinette turned her head to her right where a certain blonde sat. “I hate you sometimes. Right let’s get this over with.” She stood up, grabbing Adrien’s hand as she did so, bringing him into the bathroom with her. 

“Uh Marinette, isn’t this a bit inappropriate. At least take me to dinner first.”  
“Oh shut it, turn round and face the wall.”  
“Only if you promise to not peak too.”  
“Oh ha ha. Not in your life kit-kid.” 

Did she almost call Adrien ‘kitty’. It was not a good sign her mind was starting to get the two boys mixed up. Not at all. But at the same time… there was something so familiar about this dynamic. Oh well, best not to let her mind wander too much. Anyway, she had a much more pressing matter right now. She was about to strip in front of Adrien. Okay so it was more, behind him? But still. Marinette jumped at the sound of fabric falling to the floor, finding it almost impossible not to turn round out of curiosity. She slowly lifted her top over head and pulled down her pyjama shorts. 

“Uh so what now?” Adrien asked.  
“Kick over your clothes and Ill kick over mine.” 

In a few seconds she stood with Adrien’s white pyjama shirt on her. It fit like a dress, already oversized on him, so for the petite girl, the fabric went past her bloody thighs. His joggys on the other hand was a whole different story.  
“Um, I cant get your trousers to stay up.” She mumbled. A laugh could be heard from across the room.  
“I can barely get your shorts on. One wrong move and this is turning 18+.” Marinette let out a squeal at that trying to suppress her embarrassment. “Adrien! What am I supposed to do about these fucking bottoms?”  
“Just hold them up!” He shouted in bemusement.  
“Ughhh fine. Ready to turn round?”  
“Yeah.” 

Marinette flipped herself round and immediately wished she hadn’t. Adrien stood in front of her with the tank top barely covering his stomach and shorts riding right up his thighs. 

“OH my god!” She squealed. The laugh that left Marinette's mouth was so strong, she could no longer hold her weight, sliding to the floor. Adrien joined her trying not to laugh too hard for fear of him tearing her pyjamas. From outside they could hear Alya shouting “Fashion show time!” 

With that Adrien and Marinette pulled themselves together, giving each other a nod before opening the door and marching in the room with their best catwalks. “Get it girl!” Alya shouted as she took pictures of the two. At one point, Adrien pulled Marinette into a big hug, ruffling his hair into her neck causing her to scream and laugh as Nino recorded the whole interaction. 

Once they were done Marinette went downstairs to grab everyone some water before heading to bed but when trying to open the door and hold her drinks at the same time, the wayyy too over sized trousers fell down causing a rather exposed Marinette. “Fuck!” She shouted as she dropped the drinks and franticly tried to pull her trousers up. When she looked back up, she saw a bright blush on Adrien’s face as he remained staring at her with an awe struck look. “Wanna close your mouth dude?” Nino chuckled. 

“You all saw nothing.” Marinette huffed, picking up the spilt drinks and getting ready for bed, feeling more embarrassed than she had ever in her entire, pitiful, life.


	4. Chapter 4: eyeliner and tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so i typically like to make my chapters 10-20,000 words but for the sake of getting content out to you faster, i am making my chapters shorter, it will be the same amount of content just more split up? But my goal is for this to be around 50,000 words in total incase you were curious! Also thanks for the hits already!!

The next morning, or should I say afternoon, the gang woke up half dead. “How did we manage a hangover without fucking drinking?” Nino groaned, slamming his head back into his pillow.  
“I blame it on the hot chocolate… Mari did you spike us?” Marinette, still half asleep, refused to give Adrien any answer other than a grunt. “Knew it.”

After a few moments of self pity, Marinette stood up, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and demanded they all came downstairs with her while she made them a brunch. At the sound of food, Adrien jumped straight up beside her shouting “Lead the way!”

A sense of domesticity flew through the flat as Marinette fried pieces of bacon and eggs and sausage, the smell emitting a growl from her stomach. At the table Alya and Adrien decided to break out into some high school musical duet much to Marinette’s dismay. No matter how much she may had loved the boy in the past, one thing she could never ignore was Adrien could not sing for shit. 

The food was quickly devoured and as Alya munched on her last piece of toast she turned to Marinette, “So you know how we all feel hungover?”  
“How could I forget?”  
“Well what if we got one for real?”  
“I would love to know how your strange brain works.” 

“Hey listen out. Okay so this sleeping in and eating greasy food has got me reminiscing on some of our best night outs.”  
“Like when Kim went swimming in that club’s water fountain?”  
“I was more thinking when Nathaniel got so drunk he offered to draw anyone, who bought him a shot, as a superhero and by the end of the night could barely speak and threw up on Marc’s hoodie.”  
“Oh that was a good night.” Marinette giggled, remembering how that was the last night she saw Luka before he headed to America to start off his solo career. 

It was also the night he kissed her for the first and last time. To this day she isn’t sure whether it was a blessing or curse. The kiss was great, and fun, and stupid. But that was all. If anything the kiss just cemented how much her heart belonged to someone else, which Luka being the great guy he is, realised straight away. Still, it was a fun night and treasured it greatly. 

“You know what? A night out could be fun… but lets just keep it between the four of us, I really can’t be bothered babysitting anyone again.”  
“Oh Marinette you are the best!” Alya screamed pulling her into a tight hug. 

As Marinette’s friends went home to collect their stuff to come and get ready, the girl busied herself with tidying up. “You and Adrien seemed pretty close last night.” Tikki mentioned as she watched her put away the blankets and pillows.  
“Honestly, last night still feels like a dream.”  
“Especially the part where he took his clothes off?”  
Marinette threw a discarded piece of stale popcorn at her. “That among other things.” She mumbled, feeling flustered just remembering the other night.

When the group fully returned, Marinette decided to make a start on her makeup while Adrien watched her intently, a smile on his face. Struggling to concentrate, she turned to the boy with a frown, “Can I help you?”  
“Nope! Just watching.” He said, resting his chin on his hand.  
“Surely you’re used to seeing people doing their makeup?”  
“Yeah but they never do anything fun on me.” Adrien sighed.  
“What about that shoot a couple months ago, you know, the androgynous shoot your dad hated.” “Yeah that was fun… for the most part.” 

Marinette stopped what she was doing, sensing something was wrong with her friend, “Did something happen during it?”  
“Nah it’s nothing.”  
“Adrien you’re a terrible liar.”  
“Fine fine. Well for the shoot, I don’t know if you remember, they had me in eyeliner.” Of course Marinette remembered. “Well I actually felt pretty excited for once, not doing the usual concealer under the eyes and contour. Anyway I got to set and there was this other model, he does a lot of Calvin Klein, well he made a joke about me looking like a ‘pretty doll’ or something and asked if the reason me and Kagami split was…” Adrien muffled something she couldn’t quite hear. 

“Sorry didn’t catch that. What did you say?”  
“He asked if it was cause I couldn’t get it up for women.”  
“Ah so he was sexist and homophobic. Sounds like a real catch.”  
“Yeah well since then I kept away from much makeup.” 

Marinette sighed, turning round so she was face to face with Adrien, her knees knocking into his. “You’re telling me Adrien Agreste, arguably the biggest heartthrob in Paris, let one, insecure, dickhead, get to you?”  
“I dunno, it just stuck with me ya know.”  
“Now what we’re not going to do, is let a fucking misogynist make you feel insecure. If you like makeup, put it on. And for every ass-hole who makes fun of you, there will be another hundred people drooling over your picture on their wall.”  
“You should listen to her Adrien. My girl knows all about drooling over posters.” Alya shouted from the bathroom. 

“Thanks Mari. You always have been my everyday Ladybug.” He whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. This close, she could feel the rhythm of his heart. She inhaled the smell of bergamot and honey. She wrapped her arms around his back, careful not to smudge any makeup. They sat like that for a few, glorious, minutes until they heard a furious shout from the bathroom, “You are fucking kidding me!” 

Adrien and Marinette let go, both looking at each other in shock. They ran over to the bathroom to find Alya pacing up and down mumbling swears. They turned to Nino hoping for answers, yet he looked just as lost. “Um Al, everything alright?” Marinette cautiously asked.  
“It’s like they have no value for authentic journalism. What gives them the right?”  
“What happened?” Marinette asked, fearing the answer.  
“Look!” Alya shouted, shoving the phone in her face. 

She took it from the journalist’s hands, reading out loud, “Ten times Paris’ hero in spots left little to the imagination.” Marinette physically paled as she began to scroll. Tears welled up as she saw more and more close ups of her body, some of which were taken years ago, when she was just a child. Feeling physically sick, she dropped the phone and backed away. 

Next to her Adrien clenched his hand so tightly he cut deep pools of blood into his hand. “Shit!” He shouted looking at the mess he made. Unable to speak, Marinette, much like the night before, dragged Adrien into the bathroom, kicking Alya out as she searched for her first aid kit. She sat Adrien on the toilet and began to clean his hand, realising just how deep the cuts were, she wrapped them in a small bandage. “Better?”  
“Better.” He smiled. 

“So um that was some reaction.”  
“Uh yeah, just… didn’t seem right. Them exposing her like that. Besides she’s only just 18.” Marinette whipped her head up, confused, “I- she didn’t tell you that did she?”  
“Oh um, she mentioned it in passing after one of the recent akuma attacks.” He stumbled over his words, looking like a deer in the headlights.  
“Oh, right. Yeah, poor girl.” Marinette sighed, struggling to reach his stare. 

She knew for certain Ladybug never told Adrien this, in fact, the only person who did know her age was… Chat Noir. Well, maybe the stupid cat had slipped up and told the other blonde or something. It’s not like Adrien could be Chat. No that would be ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

She quickly stood up, putting her supplies away, “Well I better go get dressed.” 

Marinette ran to her wardrobe, pulling out a tight red mini dress with thin black tulle over it, inspired by some old 90 designs she studied last summer. She pared it with black, platform ankle boots and a black oversized leather blazer. The girl grabbed the stuff and changed in the bathroom. Once done she admired her reflection in the mirror. Through the years Marinette held onto some hope she would eventually grow, but remained barely 5’3 leading to her recently wearing a lot of heeled shoes and boots. Her dark hair fell the her shoulders with two little bobbles at the top of her hair which in some odd way, reminded Marinette of antennas. 

She turned round observing the way her dress fit along her curves and stilled. Maybe it was a little short? Maybe she should stick some tights on? Maybe she should… leave something to the imagination. Tears once again began to well up, however this time she didn’t stop them from falling. Her hands tightly gripped her sink as she let out a few muffled sobs. To think hundreds of thousands of strangers were looking at her body like that when she was just trying to fight against Hawkmoth. Her chest ached as she suppressed another sob, her whole body shaking. 

When she looked back at her reflection she felt sick at what she saw. Was this what people thought when they saw her? She placed her hand to her throat, trying to get a grip on her nerves but each time she thought back to the last picture in particular, taken when she was just fifteen… more nausea would come over her. It was like every bad experience came back to her. The old man in her bakery. The akuma that called her a bitch. Adrien’s cousin who tried to kiss her no matter how much she protested. Nathaniel when he was akumatised forcing her to go on a date for fear he would hurt her or others. She was so fucking sick of it. 

Marinette stilled, taking a few deep breaths when the door swung open. There stood Adrien, a panicked expression on his face, “Mari!”  
Without questioning it, he pulled her into another hug, allowing her to lean on her friend, no matter how confused he may have been. “I’ve got you Mari. You’ll be okay.” He whispered in her ear. 

Once she finally composed herself, she pulled away, looking in shock at her reflection. “I spent ages on that eyeliner!” Looking at how it now smudged down her cheeks.  
“We’ve got ages to sort it!” Adrien exclaimed, running out the room, coming back with her makeup bag. 

Once she was finished with the last coat of mascara and swipe of lip gloss she turned to him with a smirk. “Your turn.”  
“What? No! I’m fine.”  
“Shush model-boy.” Marinette ordered.  
“Now you sound like Alya.”  
“Shut it.” 

She sat him down once again, pulling out her black eyeliner and doing a thin cat eye, matching perfectly with his dark green silk shirt, and black trousers with shimmered thin stripes, only noticeable when the light caught on them. “There, now you’re destined to be the bell of the… club?” 

Marinette watched as the blonde examined his face, a smile tugging on his lips as her took in her hand work. “Now for the hair!” She shouted, running her hand through his usually perfect style, leaving it messy and out of place. Marinette stepped back to admire her handy work, “If I didn’t know you any better, I would think you’d make the perfect Chat Noir.”  
“Well you know Princess, I did play him in a music video once.”  
Huh that was Chat’s actual nickname for her. Odd. “How could I forget.” She giggled.  
“Well then Mari, it seems I have an important question to ask you. Would you be the Ladybug to my Chat Noir tonight?”  
“Always, kitty.” 

Marinette knew it, even if she refused to believe she knew it… Marinette knew it. How could she not.


	5. Chapter 5: but if you had to pick?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so i was half asleep editing this chapter but really just wanted to get it done since i have a ton of uni work over the weekend so sorry for any mistakes and again thanks for the currents reads and kudos!!!

Marinette stood by a wall nursing a drink, feeling rather bored already. Alya and Nino had left to go dance a while ago and Adrien never returned after heading to the bathroom around twenty minutes ago. She knew it was a waste of time standing about, and truly wanted to walk into the dance floor and enjoy herself but ever since getting ready, her mind felt far too heavy to be dancing to Abba.

The music was too loud and room too hot. The wall she rested her back on was sticky with some unknown substance and Marinette couldn’t wait to get tucked up into bed. 

While she was regretting every life decision that brought her here, a presence joined her at the wall. Feeling like something was off she turned to find a man standing next to her with a smile. He seemed nice enough, tall, well dressed but the distinct smell of whisky on him made Marinette shudder. Slowly, he began inching closer and closer until his hand was touching her waist and breath was on her neck, “Can I buy you a drink?”  
“I’m fine with the one I’ve got, thanks.” She muttered back, lightly grabbing for his hand and moving it off of her.  
“Oh come on just the one.”  
“Like I said. I’m fine, thanks.” Marinette sighed, looking around for a familiar face that could help her get out of this situation. 

“Feisty aren’t ya?”  
“Nope just not interested.” An interruption from the universe would be perfect right around now. “No need to be mean. You’ll hurt my feelings.” He replied with a slight laugh, his hand returning, this time with a stronger grip.  
“I’m just being truthful.” Marinette muttered shoving his hand off her once again, this time storming off, quick to lose him in the crowds of people. 

She marched over to the bar to, ironically, go buy herself another drink. She threw herself into the front of the cue, not having enough patience for the crowds of drunk people. Once handed her drink she went to storm off into another corner when a distinct head of blonde hair caught her attention. 

She stumbled over to it with a pissed expression. She grabbed onto the blonde boy’s shoulder, pulling him around and shouting over the music,“Where the fuck have you been?”  
Adrien looked at her with a shocked expression, “Mari! I’ve been trying to find you for ages, look what I won!” In his hands sat a tray of suspiciously purple shots.  
“How’d you get those?” 

They began to make their way over to a table behind the bar. “I was in the toilet with this guy who bet me I couldn’t do 50 push-ups with him on my back. Pretty sure he was on something but either way, free shots!” He shouted, his hand flailing about causing the mystery drinks to swish dangerously.  
“Well done!” Marinette giggled as she helped him place it on the table.  
“So shall we?”  
“Person who finishes the most gets a drink bought for them?”  
“Deal.” Adrien stated with a determined face. 

Marinette quickly downed as many as she could, an odd raspberry syrup, sort of what she imagined an old Victorian child would be given for the flu, trickled down her throat. In the end, she of course won, having always been able to hold her alcohol better than the blonde. “Right fairs fair.” Adrien hiccuped as he got up to get her a drink.  
“Make sure you ask for a double shot of vodka in it!”  
“I’m going to be bloody carrying you home.”  
“Not my problem!” Marinette giggled, a nice buzz taking over her. 

When he returned Marinette downed her drink, much to Adrien’s horror, and tugged him up to the dance floor where they stumbled around each other. A Queen song could be heard in the background as Adrien gently held onto her waist, while she placed her hand on his neck, the two looking at each other with big grins. At one point, feeling bold thanks to the probably irresponsible amount of alcohol, Marinette brought herself closer to the boy so their chests were almost flush against each other, their hips knocking into each other. 

At one point Adrien rested his chin on her shoulder, whispering, “You look really nice tonight.”  
His hair tickled her chin and breath warmed her neck. “I- uh… so do you.” She hummed, relaxing more into his arms.  
Adrien pulled back, looking straight into her eyes, face getting closer to hers, “I won’t pretend to know what happened to make you so sad earlier, but just know,” he got even closer, “you are the bravest person I know, and can get through anything life throws at you.” 

Completely overwhelmed, and unsure how to respond, Marinette placed her hands on both his face, leaning in and giving him a quick peck on his cheek, just close enough to his lips that she could practically feel the sugary contents of his drinks on her skin. She slowly pulled away, giving him a small smile, trying to determine his expression. His face remained slightly in shock, eyebrows raised, but eyes lingered over her lips. “Thank you. For everything.” She murmured, pulling him into a hug. “Always.” He mumbled in her hair. 

Marinette’s phone buzzed loudly and the two jumped apart. She picked up the call but could hardly hear over the music. On the other side of the line she heard Alya shout ‘Me and Nino are heading back to his don’t wait up!’ and then promptly hung up. Marinette shuddered thinking what her friends might be up to.  
Adrien looked at her confused, “Alya and Nino went home!” She shouted.  
“Hmmm, in that case, wanna go get some food?”  
“Definitely.”

The pair found themselves in a McDonalds, tucked up stairs in one of their booths. In front of them sat a feast of fries, burgers and chicken nuggets (can you tell I’m hungry writing this chapter?) which they devoured. “Okay so if you had to choose, who would you rather fuck, Carapace or Rena Rouge?”  
Oh that boy did not know how fucked that question was for Marinette, “Neither.”  
“Come onnnnn,” he whined, “you have to pick one.”  
“No that’s icky!”  
“Why?” Adrien laughed, sucking on one of his fries in amusement.  
“Cause...ick.” 

“Who wouldn’t want to sleep with a superhero!”  
Marinette giggled, “Alright then who would you choose?”  
“None.”  
“What how is that fair?” She gasped.  
“Thems the rules.” Adrien winked at her. 

Marinette slammed her back into the booth’s seat, crossing her arms in a huff, “Yeah well you can shove your rules up your ass.”  
Adrien sighed, moving to sit right next to her and bringing her into a side hug, “Sorry Princess.” “Hey, that’s not your nickname for me.” Adrien looked at her confused. “That’s Chat’s.” She said with a giggle.

She watched as the boy’s face went bright red, his grip getting stronger before quickly easing up. “Oh sorry, well what’s my nickname for you then?”  
Marinette looked at him for a minute, sensing she had perhaps said something wrong. “Mari.”  
“Right then Mari. I’m sorry.”  
“Hmm it’s okay. Besides, if I had to choose, it would be Chat Noir.” She mumbled, sitting up and grabbing some of his nuggets. 

She sat eating for a few minutes only to realise he has been oddly quiet. Looking up she found his face even redder, his hand over the mouth and looking extremely panicked. Finding his predicament far funnier than she would have if sober, she turned to him in an almost sing song voice, “What? I like the leather.” Adrien squeaked. “Oh come on, it’s not like you don’t have a shrine to ladybug.” “That’s different.”  
Marinette lifted an eyebrow, pushing herself up so she was eye to eye with him. “How is it different?”  
“Because...because.”  
“Wow you’re such an elegant drunk.”  
Unable to give her an answer, he instead just stuck out his tongue, like a child… and scarily like Chat. 

The two stumbled home, arms around each other, trying to keep them both up. There free hands fought for the last few fries “Do you think Alya and Nino are having sex right now?”  
Marinette choked, whipping her head round to Adrien. “You really have a one track mind tonight.” She giggled.  
“It’s just weird to think about don’t you think. Like our friends,” his hands gestured a motion I am not willing to repeat, “being… together like that.”  
“Adrien they’ve been dating for years, I highly doubt tonight was the first time.”  
“Mariiiii! Obviously I know that. It’s just weird isn’t it?”  
“I really don’t wanna be thinking about THAT right now.”  
“You’re no fun.” He whined, leading to a boot up the arse from her. 

Once they arrived at her home the two stumbled up stairs careful to not wake her parents. Once in her room, Adrien chucked himself onto the floor with a grunt. “Comfy?”  
“Not particularly.” He murmured into the carpet.  
“Right, come on kitty.”  
“That’s not my nickname.” He mumbled as she dragged him up to her bed.  
“Oh yeah.” She giggled. 

Once they got to the bed Marinette chucked herself under the covers letting out a hum of delight due to the new comfort. “My feet were killing me.” She sighed.  
“So where do you want me?” Adrien asked, sitting awkwardly at the bottom of the bed, his hand playing with the covers.  
“Don’t be stupid, in my bed. Obviously.” She giggled.  
“Now who’s got a one track mind.” He mumbled making his way under the covers, settling down beside her. 

Adrien tossed and turned, much to Marinette’s dismay, thinking of only one solution. She turned to face him and wrapped a hand over his stomach whispering “Sleep weirdo.”  
“That’s not my nickname either.”  
“Now it is.” She whispered as the girl slowly fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6: bergamot and honey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay here's a little extra but i swear now i'll be taking a couple days break to work on uni stuff i really need to stop procrastinating

That Sunday morning Marinette woke up to a much awaited headache and equally un-awaited boy in her bed. At around 12:30, Marinette awoke to the sound of birds chirping and a delightful warmth engulfing her. She slowly opened her eyes to find a strong hand resting on her waist and quiet breathing in her ear. Marinette went to jolt up but found herself incapable of moving due to the weight around her. 

She let out a shaky breath, the reality of the situation slapping her right in the face. She had slept with Adrien. Well not slept slept. But you get the idea. She was lying in a bed with a boy she had had a massive crush on… in the past, and is now dressed in a very short dress. When did it get this short? With what looks like a box of empty fries from McDonalds. How does she get herself in the situations? She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down yet as she done so, her senses were filled by the smell of alcohol and honey. Her head was fucking killing her. 

Next to her, Marinette heard a loud groan, realising the boy next to her was awake. Unable to confront her reality just yet, she squeezed her eyes back shut and pretended to go back to sleep. She felt the hand on her tighten back around as a voice whispered, “I know you’re awake.”  
Marinette let out a nervous giggle, too sore and nauseas to panic just yet. “Hmm nope still fast asleep zzzzz.” She mumbled into her pillow.  
“My bad then.” Adrien chuckled. 

She listened as he went to sit up, the covers ruffling as he grunted and slammed back into the bed. “Fuck I don’t feel well.”  
“I feel like I got dragged through a hedge backwards… then downed ten shots.”  
“Good to know you still remember last night then.” He giggled, burying himself deeper into the covers. “I’m hungry.”  
“How could you possibly be hungry right now. I feel like I’m going to puke all over my kitty pillow.”  
“You have a cat pillow?”  
“You’re sleeping on it numpty.” Marinette laughed. 

She let out a loud huff as Adrien jolted up, looking at the pillow with delight. He laid back down, his hand reaching to her head and stroking it. “So cute.”  
The feeling of his fingers in her hair brought an amazing sense of comfort to Marinette, resting into the boy, scared of the moment ending. “I can make you one of you like.” She sighed in delight. Adrien pushed himself up so they were face to face, a large smile on his face, “Really?”  
“Really.”  
He laid back down with a smile, “You’re the best Mari.” 

After another thirty minutes of self pity the two tried to stand up but gave up due to the nausea. “Do you think we’ll die here?” Marinette asked, her stomach making a disturbing sound.  
“Hopefully.” He sighed.  
“Last night was fun.” Marinette smiled, recalling their dancing.  
“Yeah it was... Mari are you magic?” Adrien asked with a smirk.  
“Wh-what?”  
“I swear I’m never as happy as when we hang out. It’s like you can make every day a million times better.”  
A bright red blush covered Marinette’s face as she brought a hand over her mouth to cover a squeal. “Funny I uh, could say the same about you.” She smiled, too nervous to look him in the eye. 

“I can’t wait for us to move in together. Still can’t believe I’ll be living with my best friend.”  
“Me either.” Marinette whispered, annoyed at the familiar sting at the word ‘friend.’ Maybe she wasn’t as over him as she kept telling herself.

Outside she heard a loud crash and cackle causing a loud groan from the two. Marinette and Adrien turned to face each other both confused at the other’s reaction. Adrien began to step out of the bed muttering “I forgot I’m late for fencing, this has been fun!”  
He shouted, running out the house as Marinette muttered, “Yeah uh I think I left my phone on the uh balcony.”

She ran outside and transformed, bumping into Chat right outside her house, both of them giving each other a familiar confused expression.

A few hours after the fight, Marinette sat by the edge of her balcony with a mug of tea, ready to watch the sun go down. Her headache had never left since this morning and she almost threw up her dinner right onto her mum’s shoes. 

Outside a slight breeze brushed past her and the streets below laid empty. Feeling exhausted, she hung her head, tempted to just risk it all and fall asleep here when a light thud could be heard. She looked up to see Chat sitting on a rooftop a few houses over, “Hey!”  
The cat turned to her with a small smile jumping over to her. “Hey Princess, what you doing out here?”  
“Well I live here. What about you?” She giggled.  
“Oh just thinking...”  
“About Ladybug?”  
“For once, no. Well not really.” 

Marinette frowned looking at the boy with concern. Something seemed seriously wrong for the superhero to not be flirting or making jokes as usual. “You know you can tell me anything right? Not like I’ve got anyone to tell. Here, sit.” She lead him over to her lounge chair wrapping part of her blanket round him. “Now what’s up?” 

“I..uh… have you been on twitter at all this evening?”  
“Oh um no. I’ve had a terrible headache all day so spent most of it sleeping.”  
Chat giggled at that turning to her with a smirk, “Someone was naughty last night. I hope you caused some mischief on my behalf.”  
Marinette gave him a light shove rolling her eyes. “Okay well anyway. I was on my phone and saw on twitter Chat Noir was trending, and you know how I love my adoring fans.”  
“Sure.” She dead panned.  
“Well my excitement was quickly crushed when I saw what people were really talking about.”  
“Oh god someone didn’t see your real identity did they?”  
“No! No, of course not. Someone had taken a video of LB saving me during the fight and made it into some kinda video of all the times I fucked up and Ladybug had to help. I look like a fucking idiot.” He sighed shoving his head in his hands. 

“Hey you know Ladybug wouldn’t be able to do her job without you. If you didn’t keep putting your life on the line then it would be Ladybug getting hurt and then who would use that miraculous ladybug thing she does.”  
“I just feel so stupid. Everyone in Paris now knows how weak I am.” 

Marinette lifted his head, looking into his familiar green eyes with a sincere look, “You are not weak. You are the bloody hero of Paris. And who gives a shit if Ladybug helps to save you. You’ve saved her life hundreds of times. What makes this any different?”  
“Take a look at your phone and you’ll see the difference.” He sighed. 

Marinette got up and jumped into her room coming back with her phone while looking at twitter. She scrolled through the trending page, skipping past the video itself, growing more and more furious at the stuff she read. 

‘When did our hero of Paris become a pussy?’ ‘If I was Chat Noir I’d pretend to be hurt so LB would squeeze me like that’ ‘Bit embarrassing needing his little lady to save him’ ‘2021, the year even superheroes can’t man up’ 

Marinette put her phone down, a large frown on her face. “You can’t be taking those dicks seriously. It’s easy to criticise when you aren’t the one risking your life everyday.”  
“I know that really but… I’m just so sick of being a useless sidekick.”  
Marinette put her arm tightly round the superhero pulling him in. “Listen. You are not Ladybug’s sidekick and anyone stupid enough to believe it could do with getting over themselves and their skewed sense of reality. Anyone willing to say shit like that clearly aren't happy enough with themselves and feel the need to project their miserable life onto others.”  
Chat looked up, his eyes slightly glossy, slowly pulling her into a hug. “Thank you Mari.”  
“Anytime.” 

The two sat and watched the last few minutes of sun set, Marinette slowly falling asleep to the smell of bergamot and honey. In the morning she woke up in her bed, tucked under her blankets with a sticky note on her head. She pulled it down and giggled at the silly doodle of a cat on it with the short message, ‘sweet dreams’.


	7. Chapter 7: not a bad view

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so still super busy with uni so this is just a quick little filler chapter to lead to the next one which should be extra long and also the most exciting so far! Due to the length of it however, it might take me a little longer to write it all but hopefully it will be worth the wait! Oh also not really a spoiler but i would just like to maybe put a little warning now the next chapter coming could be slightly triggering, things are only implied but i would suggest some caution with it, i will place some trigger warnings within the chapter as well you are welcome to skip past anything that could make you uncomfortable or triggered, thank again for your support so far and i'm going to shut up now x

“I can’t believe our little girl is all grown up.” Marinette’s dad sniffled, trying to hide his tears behind his apron.  
“Don’t start crying or you’ll make me cry.” Marinette mumbled, pulling her mum and dad into a tight hug. “Besides, it’s not like I’m moving in today. It’s just a quick viewing.”  
“I know.” Her dad blubbered.  
Her mum squeezed her tightly muttering how she, “Can’t believe they aren’t going to see it with her.”

Marinette stepped back, rearranging her bag on her shoulder and slipped her shoes on. “You have the bakery to run. Anyway, it will be a nice surprise when you see it for the first time, all decorated.”  
“Just make sure not to forget about us when you leave.” Marinette’s mum winked.  
Marinette herself rolled her eyes. “I promise.” She giggled, making her way out the shop and out onto the street.

As she began to head to her new flat, Marinette decided to take a detour round her school and old hangout spots, feeling oddly reminiscent. Soon enough, the girl found herself running late and utterly lost. It took a phone call with Alya and her desperate attempts to help the bluenette navigate her google maps to find the flat. 

She found herself in a thin street, with a large cream stone building in front of her. A few small trees lined the street, the one in front of the main entrance being decorated in fairy lights. She looked into her purse, taking a deep breath. Inside Tikki gave Marinette a supportive thumbs up and lifted herself slightly up, her eyes just able to see over the bag and into the building. 

Marinette slowly began to walk in, a slight gasp escaping her as she examined the hallway. It was decorated in a beautiful marble flooring and dark ceiling with lights replicating the stars in the night sky. 

She stepped into the lift, a shaky finger pressing the button taking her to the top floor. She finally reached the flat feeling unbelievably nervous. Before she could open the door, it burst open by an ever eager Alya. “Come in girl!” She shouted, grabbing Marinette’s wrist and yanking her inside, the girl in question letting out a light yelp at the force. 

She was thrown into a large living room with high ceilings and windows. Her hands traced the walls, the tops of which curved into the ceiling creating a sense of intimacy. Alya began to give her a tour of the room, the biggest one going to her and Nino as they were the resident couple. 

She then showed Marinette a slightly smaller room with a bunch of boxed in it, the spare room. At the end of the hall were to adjacent rooms, the one to the left being Marinette’s and the one to the right being Adrien’s. She stepped into the room with excitement on her face, looking at all the space she had, already picturing where she would put her sewing machine and bed. It wasn’t till Alya quickly jumped into the hallway to answer Nino’s call, that she realised that to her left of the room the large French windows lead to a balcony. 

She ran outside eager to look out at the view. Marinette looked down to see people roaming the streets as well as a quaint little restaurant in front of the building. To the left she could see a metro station and shops and to her right was… Adrien? 

Marinette jumped, loosing her footing and slipping on the balcony yet before she could feel the pain of the cold metal, a hand caught her, pulling her back up. She lifted her eyes to a pair of mischievous green ones, “Can’t have you falling too hard for me.” He winked.  
Trying to subdue the blush, Marinette booped him on the nose and pushed her face away from his (mainly so her now flushed state wasn’t as obvious) muttering, “In your dreams.”

Adrien giggled, letting go over her and made his way to the edge of the balcony with a light sigh. “Some view huh?”  
“You could say that again.” Marinette smiled. She looked over to the boy with a twisting feeling in her gut, something painfully familiar taking over her heart. “So… like the flat?” She asked, feeling herself at a slight loss for words. It appeared Adrien didn’t hear her as he oddly ignored her question.

A few minutes past until he let out a chuckle, “Mari come here.” He beckoned, lightly grabbing her arm and pulling her to stand squished right next to him. Marinette stood confused, choosing to just enjoy the warmth coming off of him as well as the softness of his hand on her when she realised he was pointing at something. Reluctantly she parted her view of him to look down below where an old man was on his knees, a ring in his hands. In front of him another elderly man gasped, tears falling from his eyes, pulling the other into a tight hug.

A smile grew on Marinette's lips, feeling lucky to be a part of these strangers’ special moment. She looked back up to Adrien who was staring in awe, his eyes never leaving the two men. “They look really happy.” He whispered, scared to ruin the precious moment. “Yeah they do.” 

Soon the two lovers left somewhere out of view, hand in hand, Marinette and Adrien watching them for far longer than may have been socially acceptable time. “Have you ever thought about getting married?” Adrien asked much to Marinette’s surprise.  
Her eyes returned to the spot the proposal happened, leaning her arms on the railing, “Once… along time ago.” She whispered.  
“What changed?”  
“He didn’t love me back.” 

Adrien turned to face her for the first time in a while, his eyes searching for something she was unsure of. “Any guy not to realise how amazing you are is an idiot.” He stated firmly, which only made it more painful.  
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t very upfront with him. I used to turn into such a nervous wreck, stuttering and flailing about.”  
“Aw but you were always like that when we were younger.” He smiled. 

“Uhuh…” She could not be going through this again. It wasn’t fair. “So what about you?”  
“Hmm?”  
“Ever thought about getting married.”  
“There was this girl, a great friend of mine actually, but she was always adamant we would be nothing more than that. Soon after I gave up my flirting and just watched her go be happy with someone else. I think i will always have a special place in my heart for her though.” 

Oh this really, really hurt. “Sounds like we both got our hearts broken huh?” She smiled.  
“The strange thing is,” he sighed, “despite how painful it could be at times… I don’t regret a single bit of it.”  
“Me neither.”

At around dinner time, Nino finally arrived with three pizza boxes and a big bag of wine. The four sat on the floor of their unfurnished living room eating and chatting. “So you know my dad’s got me going to a million events?”  
“How could we forget.” Alya smirked, rolling her eyes.  
“Well I had to beg him BUT I managed to get us all an invite to this fancy masquerade ball in three weeks time in these posh gardens!” 

“You’re kidding?” Marinette squealed, already coming up with designs for her dress.  
“Dead serious.” He smiled, “Oh and I should say, this is technically a fashion event with some of Europe’s most famous designers and there will be a catwalk I don’t need to be a part of!” 

“Pinch me.” Marinette sighed, taking a big glug of her wine. Next to her Nino leant over giving her a light nip on the arm. “I didn’t mean literally.” She huffed.  
“Sorry little ‘Nette.” Nino giggled. 

After they ate Adrien offered to have is driver drop them all off at their homes, with Marinette slightly stumbling into her house, quickly sobering up when she eyed the sewing machine in front of her. 

She opened her bag, allowing Tikki to fly around the room and join her at the desk where she sat furiously drawing up some sketches. “I can’t believe it Tikki… This is like a dream come true.” “Just think how romantic it would be, dancing with Adrien with music playing and candles and-” “Hey I’m over him!” Marinette protested.  
“Oh yeah you seemed really over him on the balcony.” Tikki giggled. 

“It’s rude to eavesdrop you know.”  
“Not when I’m forced to follow you in a tiny piece of fabric for the rest of your life.” 

“Anyway,” Marinette huffed, “my priority right now needs to be on impressing those designers, not a blonde with terrible puns.”  
“And which blonde are we talking about here?”  
“Shut it.” Marinette moaned, banging her head on the desk.

For the next three weeks Marinette worked tirelessly to perfect the dress, trying three different shades of red and two different silhouettes before landing on the perfect dress. But I’ll save that for the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8: little kitty was too late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So got this out way faster than expected, i once again have procrastinated my work. So like i said before please be careful and look after yourself when reading this chapter. This is not the climax of the story but more an early turning point for Marinette's character. I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think of the story so far. I have sort of split this chapter into two parts just for consistency, the next one will be out asap!

“Alya… you look beautiful.” Marinette whispered, admiring both the journalist and her own handy work. 

Alya stood in front of her in a gorgeous orange gown with a deep v neck going right down to the waist and then fell into an array of orange tulle down to her feet. On her face she had a white floral mask with slight orange and gold stitching of flowers. Just a few hours before hand, Marinette had ran to a local boutique she typically visited to pick up a pair of lotus shaped white and orange earrings and matching gold bangles. 

The red head remained quiet, staring at her reflection in awe, her hands slowly gliding over her accentuated curves. “Oh it’s perfect. I- I don’t even know what to say.” She giggled, her eyes transfixed on her reflection.  
“I am so glad you like it.” Marinette squealed, running over to her friend and pulling her into a hug, resting her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I can't wait for tonight.”  
“I can’t wait to show this off tonight!” Alya giggled. “Seriously though, I absolutely love it, you are fucking amazing.”  
“I know. Now take it off before getting ready.” 

Marinette sat by her desk as Alya curled her hair, humming along to the recent Jagged Stone song while she done so. Marinette had been extremely excited for tonight, but now could feel only nerves as she realised just how much pressure she was under. First, she had to impress everyone with her designs, second she had to make sure she didn’t make a fool of herself, which with her track record, seemed like mission impossible, and third, she had to, under no circumstances fall for Adrien again. No matter how dashing he might look in his suit, or how perfectly his hair was parted, or how romantic the candles and lights around them might be. She would most definitely not fall back in love with him… if she had ever stopped, a small whisper in her brain murmured. 

Marinette's leg began to bounce, her entire body feeling like it was on fire, and unable to stay still. “Marinette if you don’t want a fat burn on your neck tonight, I suggest you hold still.”  
Marinette quickly stilled. “Sorry.”  
Alya let out a sigh, a soft hand coming up to scrunch a fresh curl. “What’s on your mind?”  
“I dunno, just nervous I guess.”  
“You are going to blow those snotty designers away!” Alya assured her. 

“What if I slip up and make a fool of myself?”  
“If they ignore your unbelievable talent just because of your clumsiness, well then they aren’t worth your time.”  
“You’re right. Of course you’re right.” Marinette repeated, her hands beginning to play with each other absent mindedly. 

“And you know… I’m sure no one will be able to take their eyes off of you when you dance with Adrien tonight.”  
“Me, dance with Adrien?”  
“What? You don’t dance with your friends?” 

Marinette could practically hear the smirk on her friend’s face. “I- Of course I do. But he’ll probably be busy with all his model friends and stuff.”  
“Come on, you know him better than that. You two have been glued together all summer.” 

It was true that the pair had gotten especially close over the past month. Ever since that sleepover, Marinette has found a sense of familiarity and comfort in Adrien, feeling able to be more vulnerable with him. Plus he never failed to make her smile. “He’s a really good friend.” 

Alya smacked her hand against her face. “You’re as bad as each other.”

Alya and Marinette were escorted to a fancy limo at around 8pm, both of them careful not to crush their dresses when getting into the car. 

“Nino won’t be able to keep his hands off of you tonight.”  
“That’s the plan.” Alya stated, leaning into her compact mirror to apply her lipstick. She turned back to her friend again. “Promise me something.”  
Marinette looked at Alya in confusion, “Sure?” 

“Promise me, that regardless of what happens tonight, you will follow your heart.”  
“Why are you saying this?”  
“Because there’s been too many times when I ignored my own and ended up not only hurting myself but the people around me.” She sighed. 

Marinette knew Alya still felt a lot of guilt for the Lila situation. Not long after the start of that year, Lila had finally been exposed after Adrienne caught a video of the liar threatening Marinette to turn everyone in the class on her once and for all. The bitch even managed to admit to lying to those ‘gullible idiots’ Marinette called friends, and promptly shoved the smaller girl into a locker. 

Adrien was quick to post it on Snapchat for his thousands of followers to see and the truth ended up becoming inevitable. Alya has never let herself truly forgive herself for betraying Marinette like that. But that was all in the past, a dozen apologies and spontaneous picnics later. That moment actually really sparked a flame in the beginning of Marinette and Adrien’s friendship, now that she though about it…

“I promise.”

They soon arrived at the venue, a large old mansion lit up by lights, projections and flowers. They walked around the back of it to find the garden covered in small tents to the sides, the centre holding a large catwalk, and lights hanging from the trees. The place was filled with people but soon enough she found her very own model. 

Adrien was standing with Nino by a stunning water fountain drinking some suspiciously pink and orange drinks. When the blonde’s eyes met hers, they quickly travelled down to her dress, his hand losing its grip and dropping his cup onto the grass. “Mari! You- you… you look miraculous.” 

Marinette looked at her outfit, a self consciousness blush rising to her cheeks. She was wearing a red silk slip dress with black flowers climbing from the bottom of her dress to just about her waist. Cinching the waist of the dress was a rather transparent black corset, cupping under her chest adding a more mature silhouette to the girl. On her left leg was a precariously high slit and she wore a thin necklace that dipped right to the bottom of her chest. Her mask was a lace, black one, with slight red accents and red ribbon tying behind her curled hair. 

“You think?”  
The boy came closer to her, his hand reaching for hers. With a slight cough he asked, “Would you like to dance?”  
“I’d love to.” 

As they walked to where the band was, she took note of the boy’s own appearance. He wore a pair of dark trousers and pale green shirt, his sleeves rolled three quarters of the way up. In addition to this, he wore a black vest with small floral detailing, something she had done for him as a side project back in winter. With his casually messy styled hair and black mask, she couldn’t help herself from thinking just how similar he appeared to Chat Noir. Even the nervous smirk on his face reminded her of him.

As they reached the centre of the dancers, Adrien placed a hand on her waist, the other holding her hand with a strong grip. They began dancing with Adrien leading, neither one of them speaking. A natural rhythm taking over the duo as they glided together oh so perfectly. A light bubblyness filled Marinette’s chest, and she pulled him closer. 

Their hearts began to beat in synch and muscles eased into each other, almost as though becoming one singular being. From the sides, a few couples watched as the model and designer swayed together utterly enamoured by each other. The hand on her waist slowly tapped to the beat of the song sending a thrill of pleasure up her spine.

When the song finally stopped, the two were hesitant to let go, with Adrien opening his mouth reluctantly, “Wanna umm… wanna go for a walk?”  
Her heart began to pound. “I would-” 

“Adrien! Marinette!” The pair whipped their heads round to find… Kagami, standing right in front of them, looking as gorgeous as ever in a white and red loose dress.  
“Oh my god!” Marinette shouted, pulling the girl into a tight hug. “How are you?”  
“Mum’s been as strict as usual but I didn’t realise you would be here!”  
“Adrien got us an invite.” Marinette replied, pointing over to Alya and Nino who were over by one of the food stations. 

“Brilliant! Oh Adrien, look who’s also here.” She lead the two over to a man by the cat walk. He was especially tall, with pink hair and pale complexion. “James, it’s great to see you!” Adrien smiled, “Mari this is one of the designers I worked with in London! His work is amazing.”  
“You must tell me who designed that dress.” James stated, his eyes stuck on Marinette.  
“Actually… um, I did.” Marinette stated with a proud smile. 

“Beauty and talent, got yourself the whole package didn’t ya Agreste?” He chucked, elbowing Adrien lightly. “I- uh- what, no!” Wow, try sound less horrified.  
Marinette's face dropped. “Yeah, we’re not together. Just good friends.” She whispered.  
“Lucky me then.” He winked at Marinette, causing her to let out a nervous smile. 

Next to them Adrien rolled his eyes. Marinette watched as Kagami leant over to Adrien to whisper something in his ear that caused him to smirk. This could not be happening again. Before she could get a grip of her emotions, Kagami turned to Adrien asking him to dance, “Oh, yeah of course.”

Heartbreak washed over Marinette as she watched the two walk off. She really thought, for once, just once, she might finally get the guy. She might finally be able to stay true to her heart. A slight tap to her shoulder snapped Marinette out of her spiralling thoughts. “Since those two have fucked off, from one designer to another, want a private tour?”  
“Wait, really?”

James slowly grabbed her hand giving it a light squeeze. “You look like you could do with some cheering up.”  
“I’d love to.” She stated, following him away from the crowds. 

“So what got you into fashion?” James asked. As they strolled through the garden.  
“I guess I’ve always been into it really. It’s like the air I breath. I’ve had some sort of design project or another going on since I was like four.” Marinette pondered.  
“Shit. Dedicated aren’t ya?” 

“It’s like a warm blanket I can always wrap myself up in when life goes to hell.” She giggled.  
“Like with lover boy?”  
“Huh?”  
“Come on, I saw the way you looked at Agreste.”  
“Trust me. There is absolutely nothing going on between us.” Marinette sighed.  
“That’s what I like to hear.” 

Just as James’ hold on her hand grew tighter, she realised they were going in the wrong way of the models and show. Instead they had found themselves in a secluded part of the gardens, the only light coming from the moon. Suddenly the hand in hers began to burn Marinette's skin and his innocent flirting contorted into something much more sinister. 

(Warning! Please skip to end of warning if this makes you uncomfortable!!)  
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“Um, ya know I think I should go and check on my friends actually.” Marinette said as she tried to let go of his hand.  
“But we were just getting to know each other.”  
James leaned in closer causing Marinette to back up until her heels nocked into a large hedge. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “No thank yo-”

Her sentence was cut off as he quickly leaned in attempting to land a rough kiss on her. Before his lips could reach her however, the superhero pushed him off with all the strength she had. Her heart began to thud like a damning drum roll. Her hands shook and breath became ragged. 

“You bitch!”  
“Never heard that one before.” She muttered, taking on the confidence of her alter ego, too terrified to be here as simply Marinette. “I think we’re done here.” She shouted, beginning to run away when he tugged tightly onto the back of her dress causing her to trip and fall onto the hard floor with a loud yelp.

A stone underneath her began to poke uncomfortably into her back and she was pretty sure a bit of blood was dripping down her head. Before she could get back up, he was promptly on top of her, his breath mingling with hers. His body was heavy on hers, too heavy, and far, far too close. 

“I said no!” She screeched trying to shove his prying hands off of her in vain.  
“Oh shut up already and lie still.” He slowly slid his leg between hers, the friction making her squirm in fear. Get off. Get off. Get off. His hand began to lift her dress, it’s cold touch causing shivers of agony. The higher it grew the higher the bile rose up through her throat. 

With all the strength she could muster, Marinette dug her nails harshly into his skin, pulling his arms off of her and kneeing him in the chin. She jumped back up, kicking her heels off and backing up once again. 

The boy remained persistent, this time grabbing her wrists tightly. “Stop being so difficult.” He whispered in her ear causing Marinette to grab him by the hair, yanking as hard as possible and punching him square in the face, watching as the blood trickled down his nose. 

“Please just leave me alone!” She cried as the tears finally began to fall.  
“You can run all you like, I’ll still tell everyone how you fucked me in the garden.” He smirked.

Filled with an all consuming swarm of hate and anger, she slowly made her way closer to the boy, this time giving him no time to talk as she punched, and punched, and punched. His face quickly grew bruised and battered but she couldn’t stop. He went too far so why couldn’t she. He asked for it…  
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(Main scene over but the rest of this chapter may be upsetting so discretion advised!)

Soon his body had crumpled to the floor in agony but Marinette couldn’t stop. A small voice whispered in her ear, “That’s enough Marinette.”  
Tikki sat in front of her, tears matching her owners flowing down her face. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”

Marinette looked at the mess of blood on her hands as well as the tears in her dress from his eagerness, letting out a loud wail. “Tikki- I- It wasn’t-”  
“It’s okay. It wasn't your fault.” 

Marinette slowly stood up, backing away from the boy in front of her, quickly legging it out of the dark maze she lost herself in and made it back to the main event. Unable to talk or think, she just kept running until she was outside the venue, quickly transforming into Ladybug and flying back to her room as fast as possible. 

As soon as she was back she ripped the dress off of herself, running to the toilet to throw up her lunch. With a shaky breath, she lifted herself up to look in the mirror. She looked a state. 

Her mascara had smudged all over her cheeks and small cuts lay all over her arms and legs. She shook in disgust at her body, bringing a hand to her thigh where James’ ice cold one once lay. Slowly her nails began to scratch and cut at it, blood pulling at the ripped skin as she went deeper and deeper. 

Another sob escaped Marinette as punched the skin, trying to get as much hot pain out of the spot as possible. Punch, punch, punch. 

Why didn’t she follow her fucking heart instead of… this. If she followed her heart and just kept dancing. If Kagami hadn’t turned up. If Adrien didn’t introduce her to him. If she had just noticed where she was quicker. If Alya and Nino had only stopped her. If she only didn’t go tonight. If only she wasn’t here. If only she wasn’t here,

After a while she managed to find the energy to pick herself up and throw herself into her bed, where she laid naked and exposed. She hadn’t stopped shaking since the incident. The smell of metal and sick followed her into her bedroom leaving her feeling utterly vile.

Another sob began to echo around her as Tikki flew over to her owner, resting her head in her hands and letting out a cry of her own. “I’m sorry Marinette.” She chocked.  
“You couldn’t have done anything.” Marinette stated in a monotone voice, her eyes unable to leave her wall.  
“I should have been able to help!” The mini god shouted.  
“No one could.”  
“Please Marinette, just look at me.” Marinette remained looking at the wall. “Please!” 

The girl’s head began to shake as she muttered, “No. No. No.”  
“Why?” The kwami cried.  
“I said no!” She screamed, grabbing her pillow and chucking it at the wall. Tikki stared at her owner in utter terror, unable to do much else, she just hugged the girl a little tighter. 

Across the room, Marinette’s phone began to buzz, but the bluenette could not bring herself to move or even acknowledge it. 

“Was it my fault?” She asked to no one in particular. “Maybe next time I’ll learn to wear better running shoes.” She giggled to herself, the wound on her leg beginning to seep more and more crimson blood as she dug her now cracked and chipped nail into it. 

Tikki sat in agony, trying to bat Marinette's hand away from her leg when she noticed a flicker in the girls window. “Marinette I know you’re upset but you have to control your anger.”  
“Oh fuck off.” The girl spat.  
“For the sake of Paris, please.”  
“Oh cause Paris has been so kind to me!” 

A dark butterfly grew closer and closer into her room, just about to reach her when a black, clawed hand reached out and cataclysmed it. For the first time in hours, Marinette turned her attention away from the wall and to a pair of green eyes. “Little kitty was too late this time.” She laughed covering her body with the blanket and turning away from him.


	9. Chapter 9: more than you could ever know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short as it's just an extra for the last chapter, i'm hoping to have longer chapters from now on, just slightly more spaced out! Also sorry for any mistakes, i was half asleep while writing/editing this

(Trigger warning once again nothing too explicit!)  
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Marinette was back in the gardens, yet this time as James approached her, the bushes reached out and pinned her to the hedge, the thorns cutting deeply into her skin, pushing her down. Marinette tried to scream but a vine snaked its way round her neck and down her throat, crushing her windpipes. 

She was forced to remain still as the boy climbed on top of her, his lips on the slither of skin peaking out her dress by her legs. She tried to squirm but the more she moved, the deeper the thorns went, blood trickling out of her. Marinette attempted a sob, the thorn in her throat, piercing through her and tearing the skin. 

Her nails dug into the dirt, her fingers carving the word help as another shadow appeared from behind her. A clawed hand grabbed James by the shirt, pushing the designer off of her, and tearing the thorns off of her skin. She looked up, expecting to find the familiar masked face, but instead was met by the site of another blonde.

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(Skip to here!)

“Adrien!”

Marinette jolted awake, sitting up with a gasp, hand coming up to clutch her chest as she tried to breath. A sob escaped her as Marinette clutched the cat pillow, pulling it in tightly and taking a shaky breath. 

Before she could fully process her dream, a figure jumped down from her window with a panicked expression. “Mari! Are you alright?”   
Marinette looked up to see a startled Chat Noir crouched at the bottom of her bed. “I- what are you doing here?”   
“Oh… I was worried Hawkmoth would send another akuma so...”   
“Were you waiting up there all night?”   
“Sorta?” 

Marinette shoved her head in her pillow, rolling her eyes, when she realised Chat’s face had gone bright red. He quickly spun round, placing a hand over his eyes. “I saw nothing I swear!” He shouted in a panic. 

The girl sat confused for a moment, realising her room felt especially cold, she looked down to see she was wearing nothing but her underwear. “Fuck!” She swore, ducking under her covers and throwing a pillow at the mangy cat. “Breath a word of this to anyone and your dead. Now keep your pervy eyes shut.” She muttered, pulling her cover around herself like a towel and walking down her ladder to put on a pair of pyjamas. 

Once dressed she returned to the bed with a frown. “You can look now.”   
Chat turned round, a bright blush on his face, “I swear it was an accident.” He mumbled, covering his face.   
Marinette sighed, “I know. I was just teasing.” 

“Are you okay Princess, you know you can- oh my god. How did this happen?” Chat looked at her arms and legs, his eyes scanning each bruise and scrape, paying particular attention to the deep wound on her leg that Marinette was once again picking and poking at. Marinette cursed herself for not thinking to wear more covering pyjamas. 

Rolling her eyes as she whispered, “Oh I just um- fell earlier today.” 

Chat slowly leaned closer to her, his hand reaching out and grabbing her own, noticing the blood starting to leak from the cut once again. “Please don’t lie to me.”   
“I’m not lying.” Well it is true, she did fall. So not really a lie.   
“What about this?” He held her hand up, showing a dark bruise circling her wrist, almost as though in the shape on another hand. When did that get there?   
“Honestly my clumsiness will be the death of me one day.” She giggled, quick to brush off his questions. 

She watched as Chat let out a sigh, his thumb stroking the dark marks. “I’m here for you, always. You know that right?”   
Marinette’s attention turned back to the wall, a tear falling down her face. Unable to speak, she simply nodded, her body beginning to shake as the memories began to come back to her, the cold hand on hers resulting in bile climbing up her throat. 

She snatched her hand away, holding it close.   
“Who done this to you?” Chat asked, his voice cracking as he done so.   
Marinette sat up straighter, trying desperately to get a grip on her emotions. “Why do you care?” “What? Because you’re my friend, my Princess.”   
“You barely know me!” She cackled, her expression turning cold. 

“If only you knew.” He whispered, his hand toying with the fabric on her blanket. “Look I know you probably won’t believe me, or even understand what I’m saying. But I care about you. Greatly. More than you probably even realise.” He sighed.   
“If you cared so much then you would stop asking these ridiculous questions.” 

“Marinette I’m worried about you!”   
“And I don’t wanna talk about it!” She shouted right back.   
“But why? What could be so bad that you won’t just tell me. This isn’t like you.”   
“Oh cause you know me so well! How about you stop being so fucking selfish! I said no!” Marinette screamed, her voice cracking. “Why can no one take no for an answer tonight...” She sighed. 

She finally allowed her blue eyes to meet his green ones, realising she may have said too much.   
“I- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. I just… worry.”   
“I know. It’s not your fault. It’s just been a shit night. Look if you’re so adamant to stand guard all night, at least make yourself comfortable.” Marinette tapped the spot next to her with a small smile.

Chat cautiously crept over, sliding under the covers, being careful to give her as much space as she needed. Touched by the action, and craving some greatly needed support from her partner, she wrapped her arm around his stomach, placing her head on his chest and hugging his side. The boy looked at her tired form for a moment before moving a hand to her hair and slowly started stroking it until she fell asleep.

Sadly her peaceful slumber, was one, not very peaceful, and two, painfully short. After about twenty minutes, Marinette shot back up, her breath ragged and hands trembling. Chat was quick to pull her in tighter, resting his head on the top of her hair and stroking away the tears on her cheeks. “Shh bug. Your safe.” 

In a state of distress, Marinette failed to realise the nickname he called her, although a little god hiding behind her pillow most definitely did not. 

“Chat. I-” Unable to finish the sentence, she simply latched onto him for dear life, her grip tight as she cried into his chest. Once she was finished, she pulled away, wiping the tears off his suit with a quiet “Sorry.”   
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” He sighed, stroking her hair once again. 

The soft thud of his heart beat underneath her brought a sense of stillness to her movements, attempting to match his pace of breathing. 

“Chat?”   
“Yes Princess?”   
“Have you ever failed to follow your heart?” She hiccuped. 

The superhero stilled, contemplating his reply, before wrapping his arm tight around her and whispering, “Yeah I have.”   
“What happened?”   
“I’m still not really sure. But I think I greatly fucked up.”   
Marinette giggled at that. “I doubt it. You’re too perfect.” She yawned. 

A blush returned to the cat’s face. “If only that were true. Anyway, why do you ask?”   
“Just thinking about a promise I might have broken.”   
“Well I’m sure you didn’t mean to.” 

Marinette lifted herself up so she was staring directly at the blonde. “I tried to keep my promise. I swear.” Another tear escaped her.   
“Hey, hey. I believe you.”   
“I should never have left him.” She whispered.   
“Left who?”   
“My promise.”

Unable to sleep for the rest of the night, Chat sat with Marinette watching Netflix on her phone and telling each other stories, such as the time Chat, as his civilian self, was at an event in front of hundreds of people and fell smack on his face three minutes in. This made Marinette laugh particularly hard, feeling guilty about her reaction, quickly told him about the time she tried to confess a crush she had on a boy only to end up somehow accidentally slapping him in the face with a bag of bread. 

Once the sun had rose, Chat attempted to leave the room when something caught his attention. Before it had been masked by the darkness of night but on Marinette’s knuckles where thick scabs and bruising, as though she had punched a brick wall. As he went to escape out the window, another thing caught his eye. A torn and bloodied dress lying on her floor. 

Marinette refused to look him in the eye, scared her expression would tell him everything he needed to know.


	10. Chapter 10: just keep ignoring your problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so this um, was a totally unexpected chapter, i was planning to write something completely different ie the next chapter, and ended up writing this for some reason? Hope it isn't too confusing, just realised i didn't have much ladybug/chat noir scenes in here!

It took till after lunch for Marinette to gain the courage to brave answering her phone. She turned the device on to find a million missed calls and texts. Unable to bring herself to read them, instead she simply started up a face time on her group chat of her Adrien, Nino and Alya entitled ‘Sabine’s bitches’ after a running joke how the three would easily marry Marinette’s mum for her bread recipe. 

Marinette’s hands shook as she hit call. In no time at all, three familiar faces popped up. “Mari! Where were you?” Adrien asked straight away.   
“Girl you seriously gave us a fright, what happened last night?”   
“Little Nette we thought something bad happened?” 

Marinette sighed, feeling ashamed in leaving her friends so worried. “I am so sorry! I started feeling ill last night and ended up being sick in the garden. I was so embarrassed I ran straight home and fell asleep. I think I might have overworked myself with the dresses and masks… and I uh just woke up!” Behind the phone Tikki frowned at her owner’s lie. Funnily enough, Adrien appeared to have the same expression as the little God. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” He pressed.   
“My mind was all over the place, honestly. I really didn’t mean to make you worry.” 

“Are you still going to be alright for tomorrow?” Alya asked.   
“Huh?”   
“Marinette! Don’t tell me you forgot.”   
“I- uh no. Totally ummm,” her eyes looked over to Tikki who was furiously pointing at something in her diary, oh, “Yup I’m all packed and ready to move in!” 

“Are you sure you’ll be well enough for the party? We can easily re arrange it to another day.” Adrien looked at her with an almost pleading expression.   
“What party?”   
“It was your idea! Rose and Juleka’s engagement party? You invited the whole class around to break in the flat.” 

“Oh shit!” Marinette gasped only just remembering. She rubbed her thumb over a particularly nasty scab on her knuckle. “Of course I’ll be fine.”   
“If you say so. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” Nino stated before hanging up, already running late for the movie he was seeing. 

Marinette quickly left the call, chucking her phone on the kitchen counter and smacking her head on the cold table.   
“Marinette why did you agree to tomorrow? You clearly aren’t in the right mindset.” Tikki scolded.  
“Because, I have to be fine...” her eyes dropped her her hands, another pesky tear threatening to slip, “I’m the bloody guardian. If I can’t handle a party… then I’m useless.”   
“You know that’s not true?” Tikki whispered, flying up to Marinette’s face and cuddling her. “Sure.” She replied, not having the energy to argue, that phone call alone draining the energy out of her.

Marinette spent that evening lying in her bed, numb to all that was waiting for her the next day. Her mum and dad sensed something was wrong but just assumed it was due to her moving out of her childhood home. The sad thing was, her mind and body were so disassociated, she couldn’t even acknowledge this massive milestone in her life. Instead she lay on her too cold bedding, hand stroking her cat shaped pillow and wishing she would just disappear. 

At around midnight, Marinette had had enough of her stupid brain, deciding to transform and do a late night patrol. She leapt through the streets of Paris, ignoring the pain in her leg, ignoring the ragged breathing whenever she stopped to think, ignoring how utterly alone and scared she felt, even when transformed. 

Finally, she stopped in front of a tall hotel building. On it’s roof sat a large advertisement for Agreste fashion, no surprise, featuring Adrien. On the poster he was sitting on a prop cloud with large white wings. His outfit was an array of warm, neutral tones, a carefree look on his face. She sat by it, simply staring and analysing it, unwilling to train her thoughts to anything more than the image in front of her. After a while she heard a soft thud, turning her head to find her other blonde boy. 

“Nice view.” Chat Noir smirked.  
“Hey kitty.”   
“Hey bug.” The cat brought himself next to her, swinging his legs over the side of the building and looking up at her with a worrying expression. “What’s got you up and about tonight.”   
“Oh nothing, just felt like getting out for a bit. You?”   
“Yeah same.” 

The two sat in silence for a moment, Ladybug’s guilt growing stronger by the minute. She was about to speak when Chat bet her to it. “I saw my ex the other night.”   
“Oh, that must have been difficult.”   
“It was… but not for the reason I expected.”

Ladybug turned to her partner with a raised eyebrow, “How so?”   
“It just, cleared some things up for me. We danced and spent most of the night together, honestly it couldn’t have been more romantic if I tried.” He chuckled. “But then I realised, there’s this other girl, who I could just be sitting watching her ice a cupcake, or be stealing fries off of… and feel so, so much more.” 

“It seems you really like this other girl. Have you mentioned her to me before?”   
“Oh you know her.” He smirked. “It’s funny though. When I fell in love with you it was like this hot, fast passion. I’d never been in love before and it had just slapped me right in the face, literally.” She giggled remembering their chaotic meeting.”And I guess I just assumed that’s what love was always supposed to be like. Then with my ex, she was everything I thought I should want. She was strong, brave… and we had very similar home lives. However, it just wasn’t love. I think I tried to trick myself into believing it was, because the more I admitted my feelings for another girl, the more my eyes opened to her true self. Every side of her.”

His gaze was burning, green eyes looking straight into Ladybug’s and sending a million butterflies erupting in her stomach. She hesitated for a moment, unsure how to reply. “Uh… so um, how did you know you loved this third girl?” 

“Now that’s a fucking story.” The blonde laughed. “To be honest for a long time I was convinced she hated me. Then we became friends, and she finally opened up to me, no longer acting all nervous all the time. Although if I’m being honest, her stuttering and clumsiness was pretty cute back when we were younger.” His eyes shone, clearly recalling the girl. “Anyway, through the past few years we grew closer and closer. I saw not only the sweet side of her, helping everyone she could and always putting herself last. But also her bravery. She’s one of the strongest, and sadly most stubborn people I know.” 

He leaned back on the roof, lying on the concrete, Ladybug quickly joining him, eager to hear him continue. “I know I can be oblivious, but I’m not stupid. I always knew she was more than just a friend, but couldn’t let myself believe it. I couldn’t handle a rejection, not again.” 

Ladybug stilled at his words, guilt eating her up. “It’s ironic though. The night I realised just how hard I had fallen for her, was the night I think I failed her most. I… I think she was hurt. Badly. And it was supposed to be me by her side. I don’t know if she could ever forgive me.” 

Tears began to fall from the girl’s eyes, both a reaction to her own bubbling pain, and best friend’s.   
“Why are you telling me this?” Ladybug asked, afraid of the answer.  
“I’m not really sure to be honest with you.” He scratched the back of his head, a frown on his face. “I guess… she just reminds me a lot of you, and by telling you, then it’s like I’m somehow apologising to her. It’s stupid but, maybe if I told you, and you didn’t hate me, then she wouldn’t either.” A lost look on her partner's face.

“I don’t think anyone could hate you, other than Hawkmoth.” She giggled, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly.   
“And for what it’s worth. It seems me and your… friend, have perhaps had a similar past couple of days. If she’s anywhere near worthy of the love you have for her, then she’ll know just how great you are, and how you would never mean for her to be harmed.” 

The sun was slowly coming up, leaving the two to stand up ready to part. She leaned in to the blonde, placing her hands gently on her shoulder, thump stroking the leather on his suit. Slowly, Ladybug leaned in, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek, “She will forgive you.” 

Chat pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you Ladybug.” He stepped back looking at her for a moment. “And I know you worry about us revealing our identities and all that stuff, but you can come to me. No matter what, I’m here for you.”   
“I know kitty. I know.” Her voice cracked as she hopped off the roof, quick to head back to her room, refusing to see her partner’s expression. 

Once de-transformed, Tikki looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”   
“You know who the cat was talking about right?”   
“I- It’s not good to read into what he says.”   
“Marinette your just torturing yourself here. Why are you so quick to look after Chat’s feelings but not your own?” 

“Tikki don’t you think I’ve got enough to worry about right now. I feel sick every time I see another guy, my own body has me feeling so fucking disgusted I refuse to look in the mirror, I’m moving into a brand new flat in a few hours. Just existing right now is killing me. If I think about Chat’s words, and that fucking look when he spoke about his ‘friend’ and why he would tell me, then, then everything is ruined. I- I just can’t. Not now.”

“I know it’s been hard for you, but please just tell me. You understand what he was saying. You know why he told you.”  
“How could I not?” She sighed.


	11. Chapter 11: just trying to help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow two chapters in the one day who would have thunk it? Anyway um so will probs take a mini break for a day or two of writing but just had to get this out while i still have the motivation. Just beware there are slight implications to suicidal thoughts in this chapter i didn't even really realise i wrote until Marinette realises it too. Bit scary to know i'm as oblivious as the characters in this show smh. Anyway hope you enjoy the extra long chapter and again, happy to listen to any suggestions!

Marinette's mood took a turn for the worst the next day. After officially moving in and saying goodbye to her mum and dad, she utterly broke down alone in her room. 

Her body shook rigorously as she unpacked her clothes, having to take a nap once finished due to her exhaustion. She lay in her bed after awaking with tears staining her cheeks, unable to move. Feeling drained of any emotion or motivation. She simply sat staring at her new room. 

It was painted in a light pink with a few grand mirrors on the walls with gold frames. Around her bed hung different plants and flowers. By the French windows sat a few paintings and sketches, both by her and some by Nathaniel, given to her as presents. She had a few shelves scattered with fashion magazines, sketchbooks and small trinkets both from her own trips, and ones Adrien brought her back. All around her room were framed pictures of her and her friends which brought at least a small spark of joy to her. The floor was wooden where multiple different patterned rugs sat helping to warm her bare feet as she walked around it. Her bed was rather low to the floor, a wooden frame and a green princess like bed netting that surrounded her: Adrien insisted on getting her one after using it in a shoot a few months back.

Her thoughts and wandering eyes were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in.” She muttered.  
“Blue or green?”  
“Huh?” Marinette turned her head to find Alya holding up two blazers.   
“For tonight.”   
“Oh um, blue. It reminds me of a night sky, make sure to wear your cream silk shirt with it.”   
“And shortest skirt of course.” Alya winked with a smirk. “Now, what were you thinking of wearing?” 

Marinette hadn’t given her outfit any thought really. It was just a flat party, not a gala. “This?” She asked with a nervous smile, looking down at her wide legged jeans and oversized burnt orange hoodie. 

“What- why?” Alya asked, shocked her designer friend would put such little thought in her outfit. “Are you sure your doing alright?” She asked, coming to sit nest to Marinette and placing a comforting hand on her leg.

Marinette slightly flinched at the movement, causing a wave of worry in her friend. “Just tired.” Again, not technically a lie. She was exhausted. 

Alya turned Marinette’s head to look at her, a serious look on her face, “I won’t make you tell me what’s bothering you. I’ve learned pushing gets you no where, finally. But, please know, you can’t lie to your BFF. If you don’t wanna tell me, then it’s clearly something really bad, and I promise to do my best to help get the normal Marinette back.” 

Touched by her friend’s understanding, she flung herself at her friend, knocking them both onto the bed with a giggle. “I swear I’ll be fine. Just got to process some stuff for a while. But I love you so much, and am unbelievably happy to have you as my friend.”   
Alya sat up with a big smile, “Marinette! You’re going to make me cry.” She screeched, pulling the smaller girl into her and holding her tighter.

When she finally got Alya to leave, Marinette sat by her new desk trying to figure out what to do with her hair. As she took down her pigtails, the girl couldn’t help but cringe remembering how it fell in her face as she tripped over, making it easier for James to overpower her. And yet, as she pulled it into a high ponytail, her fingers scraping past her scalp, she calmed at the memory of Chat’s fingers stroking her hair until she lay still. Still not ready to face looking at the physical reminders of the other night, she opted to stay in the clothes she had thrown on that morning, not in the mood to have anyone’s eyes on her body.

After a small pep talk, and a sneaky shot or two, or three, from the vanilla vodka under her bed, she stepped out the comfort of her room and helped the others set the rest of the flat up for tonight. 

For the first time since they danced, Marinette and Adrien were alone, preparing the drinks and cocktails in the kitchen. “Excited for tonight?” Marinette asked, mentally slapping herself for sounding so quiet.   
“If I’m being honest, I’d much rather just spend the night eating pasta and watching movies.” Adrien giggled.   
“Yeah, me too.” 

Adrien looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. While unpacking some of the shot glasses, the pair’s hands reached out at the same time, Adrien’s on top of Marinette’s. They both jumped back, each looking at their hands in shock when Adrien noticed the blood on the bottom of his fingers. He raised his gaze to Marinette who had just noticed the torn scabs at her knuckles. Without a word, Adrien walked over to her, holding her hand in his, and inspecting it. 

“Oh Mari.” He whispered, his hands slowly shaking. 

He walked her over to the sink, lightly washing the blood off of her, refusing to look in her eyes causing Marinette to only feel more ashamed. Luckily they were quickly interrupted by the doorbell ringing and a swarm of classmates bursting into the flat. 

Marinette snatched her hand back, storming into the living room to greet everyone, a big glass of white wine in her hand. 

For most of the evening, Marinette stuck to her girl friends, finding it difficult to be around the boys too much. This in itself drove her crazy, hurt by the fact these guys who have been nothing but kind and loyal to her, her whole life, now had her heart racing. 

She hated that when Kim began an arm wrestling competition on their living room floor, the idea of his cold gloves, encompassing her hands, shot fear through her. She hated how when Nathaniel came to talk about his kitten him and Marc were adopting, she made sure he stayed a good distance away, much to his confusion. 

Although she never once feared Adrien, a small, cruel, part of her couldn’t help but be spiteful towards him. And for that, she simply hated herself.

At around 11pm, Kagami arrived. At around 11:03pm, she had already figured out there was something wrong with Marinette. Apparently it was her amazing intuition. Marinette called it shit luck.

She pulled Marinette to a corner of the room, away from the crowd and away from the blaring music. “Who am I killing.” She asked, blunt as ever.   
“No one, hopefully.”   
“Marinette, if someone hurt you, I will hunt them down and show them just how good at fencing I am.”   
Marinette frowned, tucking in her knees and looking out the window. “No one hurt me.” 

Kagami looked at Marinette with worry. “I know that look. Back before I met you all, I never really had friends. That made me vulnerable and someone got away with treating me not very nicely.” Marinette chugged another drink, her eyes watering, “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”   
“I don’t want pity, I just want you to know, I’ve been there. And I recognise that look.”   
“What look?”   
“Shame, embarrassment, regret, hurt. Take your pick.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes, hand already reaching for the spare drink she brought with her, “I swear I’m making a big deal out of nothing.”   
“No! Don’t ever feel like you’re blowing something out of proportion. You’re entitled to your feelings. It takes a lot of strength to even admit the pain your in to yourself. But don’t ever feel like you have to belittle what hurt you. You accept it, you get stronger, and you make sure the world becomes just a little tougher for these ass holes to get away with it.” 

“I-” She was interrupted by a ringing from Kagami’s phone. “Shit, sorry. It’s my mum. You going to be alright here?”   
“Yeah, I think I will be. Thank you.” 

And Marinette really thought she would be… until she walked into the conversation and stumbled into a conversation between Adrien and Alya. 

“Hey Marinette, you spoke to that guy James the other night?” Marinette almost dropped her drink.  
“Uh yeah, how come.”   
“Oh well apparently he left really suddenly that night, flying back to London. He’s now refusing to work on the collaboration with my father next season. Apparently he won’t even let anyone see him.” 

The picture of James’ bloodied and bruised face popped into her head. “Oh um no clue, we didn’t really talk much.” Her whole body began to once again ache and head grew dizzy. Desperate for fresh air, she stormed out the room and into her bedroom. 

She flung open her windows and stormed onto the balcony. Collapsing onto the railing with a loud sigh. Tears fell uncontrollably from her eyes. Tikki came to reach her, sitting by her hands. “I can’t believe that bastard. It’s not enough he fucked my life up, now he’s refusing to work with Mr Agreste.”   
“Well Adrien’s dad is a dick.” Tikki replied, trying to calm her down. 

“You don’t get it. If he refuses to work with him, then rumours will begin to spread about the whole Agreste company. It could ruin his already dodgy reputation. And who does he usually take his anger out on?”   
“Adrien.” The kwami sighed.   
“Exactly. Besides, it’s obvious Adrien and Als know I had something to do with it.”   
“Maybe you’re just being p-”   
“I swear to god Tikki, if you call me paranoid I will revoke my mircaulous right now.”   
“Sorry.”

Another sob echoed on the balcony. 

She looked down onto the street, right where her and Adrien had observed just the other week. Fuck. Why couldn’t she just start over, going right back to that night Adrien told them about the ball? Her heart ached for when she was happier, finding herself leaning further and further over the ledge. It hurt so fucking badly and she just wanted it to stop. For everything to stop. Her grip grew tighter as she began to pull herself up, swinging her legs over to sit on the ledge. 

Just for a moment, she could pretend she was transformed. No longer a weak, terrified girl, but instead, the brave, hero of Paris. A sharp wind and slight hiccup caused Marinette to lose her balance, her body beginning to slip off the metal bar. 

Before she could fall flat on her face onto the cold concrete, a hand jolted out, grabbing her jumper and pulling her backwards into a warm chest. Two arms circling round her waist, “Are you crazy?” Adrien shouted, looking down at Marinette. She pulled his hands off of her, losing the last of her composure due to both the close call of death, and troubling amount of alcohol. She stumbled trying to keep her now shaken body up. Lifting her head so they were eye to eye. “I think I just might be.”

Marinette collapsed into a fit of giggles, her tears of laughter quickly turning into real tears of anguish. The blonde tried to reach out to her and get her away from the edge but she only laughed harder, swaying out his grip. She once again began leaning over the ledge, this time Adrien lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder and bringing her back inside. 

“Let me go. Let me go.” Marinette shouted, hitting Adrien’s back with a frown. Eventually they made it back into the safety of her bedroom. Pissed off, Marinette ran away from the boy and headed straight to the kitchen to grab another drink. Annoyingly, the blonde was just two steps behind her. 

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Adrien asked, an eyebrow raising.   
“You’re not my parent.”   
“Obviously.” He muttered, grabbing the cup out her hand and placing it on the counter. 

As he done so, Marinette simply turned around and grabbed another. “How much have you had to drink?”  
“None of your fucking business.” Marinette spat, beginning to feel extremely woozy. She went to march into the living room, getting to the couch when Adrien grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him. She let out a loud scream as he pressed onto her aching bruises. 

The blonde quickly let go with a shocked expression, “Mari- I- I forgot I am so sorry. Are you hurt.” “Oh now you care?” She glared.   
“What?”   
“Nothing.” She mumbled.

Her friends all stopped what they were doing to look at the pair. “No! You know what, how about for once you just be fucking honest with us.”   
“So now sunshine gets a backbone.” She chuckled grimly. 

“Marinette what is wrong with you. How do you expect us to help when you just keep lying!” “Who said I needed you’re fucking help?”   
“When was the last time you ate!” He questioned.   
“I told you. I’m not feeling well. Why do you even care? Just fuck off with Kagami like last time.”

“I know you’re hurting Mari, but that doesn’t mean you can treat me like shit.”   
“Then stop being so fucking selfish.” 

She stumbled closer to him, finger poking into his chest. “You just keep pushing,” poke, “pushing,” poke, “and pushing.” She muttered to herself. 

“Because you almost fucking killed yourself!” He screamed, the whole room gasping.   
“Now who’s the liar.”   
“Then why were you on that ledge.”   
“To feel good.” She smirked. “To get the pain to just float away and escape into the wind.” 

“By falling off of it?”   
“Yes!- No! I don’t know!” Marinette quickly realised the gravity of her words and the confession she had just made. 

“You haven’t been the same since that fucking ball!” Adrien cried, tears now falling down his own face.   
“And who’s fault is that?” Her voice became coarse.   
“What are you talking about?”   
“Just promise to never introduce me to one of your little designer friends again.” She growled, leaving the blonde to stand still in shock, hiding herself in her bedroom.

About twenty minutes later, Marinette could hear three voices outside her room. “I thought we agreed not to push her!” Alya shouted.   
“She almost got herself killed!”   
“So you thought screaming at her would help?”   
“Well Nino, I hadn’t really given it much thought in the moment.” Adrien replied sarcastically. 

“Dude, I know you just wanna help, but this whole knight in shining armour thing isn’t helping.” “You heard her didn’t you? This is all my fucking fault.” 

Oh god, Marinette thought. She had fucked up big time. 

Across the door Alya sighed, “She just needed someone to blame. You just need some better communication. Now go in there and sort it.”

Marinette let out a yelp as she chucked herself into her bed, fearing the confrontation she was about to face. Yet instead of anger, Adrien cane in with a timid expression. “Can I join you?” She opened to cover up and allowed him to lie down next to her, pulling her in slightly. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you.”   
“No Adrien! I- Alya was right. I was just looking for someone to blame. And had clearly got myself in a state.” She let out a wet giggle.   
“Just… um I know it can’t excuse how pushy and just overall shitty I was being. But um I’d like to tell you a story to perhaps explain myself a bit better?” He asked, his insecurity practically seeping through his words.   
“Of course. But you really don’t have to.”   
“Yes. Yes I do.” Her friend whispered, stroking her arm with his thumb.

“So you know how Lila had a bit of a thing for me?”  
“How could I forget.” Marinette sighed.

“Okay but um, do you remember that shoot we done for valentines day.” Marinette definitely remembered that. No matter how much she pretended she only saw him as a friend, she may have kept a few of the pictures from it in her drawer. With Lila’s pictures cut out of it, obviously.

“Well, shit where do I start?”   
Marinette snaked her fingers around his, pressing lightly for support “Take your time.” 

(minor implied harrasment warning!)  
\---  
\---  
\---

“Okay so um it started out innocent enough, perhaps she was a little pushy with the way she pressed into me and held onto my arm, but nothing I couldn’t handle.” He sighed. “But then my father kept pushing us closer and closer together. I began to dread photo shoots more than ever. With each time, her hand gowning a little higher up my leg.” His voice shook a little. 

“Natalie urged me to tell father how uncomfortable she made me. And I did, after a while. But he just told me to ‘man up’.” Marinette could feel the pain in his voice. 

“Then, after the success of the valentines day campaign, the whole team, decided to have a party, and let me tell ya, Lila and alcohol do not mix well. After only three ciders, she began to get a little too close.” His free hand came up to scratch his neck, exposing how nervous he was. 

“She cornered me on a couch and tried to kiss me, luckily she’s as light as a feather and could just throw her off me. But when I tried to tell my father, this time he just asked if I was gay. He asked me if I was fucking gay. I felt so ashamed, as though there was something wrong with me for not wanting her. I decided to tell no one, feeling as though they would look at me like my father did, a freak.”   
\---  
\---  
\---  
(end of warning)

“Adrien-”   
“I swear I’m not trying to excuse how shit I was to you. Honest. I just thought I’d explain why I wanted you to open up. I guess deep down, I just wanted someone to push me to open up. But I realise that was selfish.” 

Marinette sat up, leaning over Adrien with a scowl. “Adrien listen here. You were not being selfish. You thought you were helping. Sure your methods were shit, but I understand you really thought you were doing the right thing. And I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help you.” 

His hands came up to her arms, stroking them. “Mari, but don’t you see. You were! Together we managed to expose her to the whole fucking world. Even if you didn’t know it at the time. You saved me. Like I always say,” He sat up slightly, bumping his nose to hers, “You’re my everyday ladybug. I know I fucked up. But please don’t hate me.” 

In a familiar action, Marinette leant down and pecked the boy on the cheek. “I could never hate you.” His eyes widened, whispering a breathless “Thank you.” 

Marinette rolled back into her position beside him with a sigh, “Besides, I said some pretty shit things to you. Truly Adrien, nothing that happened the other night was your fault… I still don’t think I’m fully ready to open up about it but lets just say, I’m glad I’m stronger than I look. Besides James is apparently a really good actor.” 

“Tell me if I’m going too far but did he… did he...”   
“No, didn’t get the chance. But wasn’t for a lack of trying.” She looked to Adrien’s worried expression, brining her hand to his hair and stroking it like she done for Chat Noir at the end of patrols. “Don’t worry, there’s a reason I’m an everyday ladybug, I’m good at putting bullies in their place.” 

His hand began to stroke her knuckles, “So this?”   
“Payback.” She smirked. 

The two sat chatting for a while longer, neither one of them in the mood to party. As they began to fall asleep, Marinette whispered, “Night night Kitty.” And Adrien could have purred in delight. “Goodnight Princess.”


	12. Chapter 12: change of scenery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the scene in the bakery is actually the first scene i ever thought of for this story which is really exciting getting to finally write it! I guess chloe is a little out of character and surprise she's a lesbian- sorry the story was beginning to sound far too straight to me hehe  
> Anyway i hope you enjoy it and also the creepy old man is actually based on a regular at the shop i worked at so at least he was good for some writing inspo   
> enjoy! 
> 
> oh also just imagine Marinette messaged her parents to re arrange dinner with them, i forgot to put it in and a slight rush today for uni stuff so don't have time to put it in sorry!!

The following week Marinette had planned to visit her mum and dad, having left a few sketchbooks at her house, yet when she arrived, they were frantically running about with a million deliveries to complete. 

“Go do what you gotta do. I’ll watch over the shop.”   
“Sweetie you came to see us.”   
“How about I stay here while you do deliveries and when you get back I stay for dinner.”   
“That would be perfect.” Her mum sighed, pulling her daughter into a tight hug before running out the bakery, her dad following right behind her.

Marinette sat by the counter, a book in hand due to it being a rather quiet day. She checked her phone to see a Snapchat of Adrien with a black cat. ‘Think Nathaniel will adopt me too?’, it was captioned, another photo following it with an array of cat toys everywhere. Marinette let out a snort of laughter. 

The bell by the shop door rang as it opened, with the bluenette looking up as she smelled a particularly strong smell of cheese. It was the old man. Shit. Shit. Shit. 

Trying to look busy, Marinette ducked under the register and started rearranging pastries, the sound of approaching foot steps sending her heart hammering loudly. The girl jumped as there was a slight knock on the counter. She peered her head up to find the old man smiling down at her. 

“Sorry doll. Could you just reach up and grab me those croissants. My legs aren’t what they used to be.” He chuckled, yet the light-hearted statement grew more sinister as he began re arranging his trousers by his crotch. 

Scared to argue, Marinette simply nodded, quietly grabbing a step ladder and reaching up to grab a bag full. She stilled as she heard the distinct sound of an I phone camera snapping a picture. 

Marinette sharply turned round to find the man smiling at his phone. 

She dropped the bag in fright. Her nails beginning to scrape at the palms of her hand as she backed into the pastries. This could not be happening. Why couldn’t she catch a fucking break. Marinette cursed herself for the mini skirt she put on this morning. It took three pep talks from Adrien, plus an unbelievable amount of courage. 

Now she wished she could just tear it off. 

In a fit of panic, Marinette had failed to notice another person had entered the bakery until she saw a head of blonde hair in front of her. The figure snatching the phone out of the old man’s hand. They flung it onto the ground and smashed it… with their yellow high heels. The person turned round to face Marinette, the bluenette letting out a gasp. “Chloe?” 

“Hi Dupain-Cheng.” She muttered, turning her full attention to the man in front of her. “I suggest you leave this shop right now, and if you dare come back you will have more than a broken phone.”

The old man quickly ran out the shop, leaving Marinette to stumble off the ladder and fall to the floor, unable to keep herself up. Chloe sunk down to sit next to her, rubbing soothing circles around the girl’s back as Marinette battled to try breathe. 

“You’re okay. You’re okay. If that perv even thinks of touching you, I will have the whole of Paris after him.” She whispered.   
Marinette should never have worn a skirt today. She shuddered to think what he would have done with the picture. 

After a while, Marinette finally looked up at Chloe with a questioning glance, “What are you even doing here?”   
Chloe’s face went bright red. “Oh uh, I got back from New York last night and just came from a date.” The blonde sighed.   
“Guessing it didn’t go too well?”   
“You could say that.” She laughed bitterly. 

“Umm, not to ruin this moment of you being nice to me. But why are you being nice to me?” Marinette asked, utterly confused at the girl’s kindness.   
“Well for one, I’m not 14 any more. And uh two, I’m a fucking heiress to Paris, I’ve had my fair share of unsolicited pictures.” 

Marinette recalled a rumour from the girl’s 18th birthday of a member of the paparazzi snapping a picture of her from a club, in a very vulnerable state. “Paris can really suck.” Marinette sighed. “This world can really suck.” Chloe replied, resting her head on the wall. 

Marinette looked to the counter, her mind replaying the first encounter with the old man. As she pictured the moment his hand grasped her hand, his face began to contort into a much younger one. With pink hair and many piercings. 

She began rubbing her eyes, pulling at the ends of her hair trying to get the image out whispering a “Not now.” She thought she was finally beginning to handle her emotions better. She even looked in the fucking mirror this morning. But now it felt like all her hard work had been for nothing. 

“What’s going on in that small brain of yours?” Chloe asked, a note of distress in her voice.   
“I- I finally looked in the mirror today.” Marinette whispered, looking down and the floor.   
“Um, good for you?”   
“Thanks. I know it’s stupid, it’s just… I’m so sick of men making me feel disgusted in my own fucking skin.”   
“You and me both.” Chloe muttered, grabbing Marinette’s hand. 

“Right. I know what we should do.” Chloe pulled Marinette up with her with a heave. “You and me are going for a shopping trip.”   
“What?”   
“Shopping trip. Now. Oh come on don’t act like clothes don’t help make your little designer heart just a little lighter.”   
“I suppose but...” Chloe turned to the girl with a serious expression, grasping both of her shoulders with a sigh, “Look I know it sounds utterly ridiculous, but sometimes a change of scenery helps clear the mind. And if you don’t feel comfortable with what you see in the mirror, why not change it up?” 

Marinette gave a hesitant nod before realising something, “But-”   
“And before you freak out. I promise to buy out half your baked goods with daddy’s money so your parents don’t lose out on sales while we’re gone.”   
“Thank you.” Marinette gasped, shocked at her surprising kindness. 

“Don’t look so shocked, I’ll take any excuse to buy a new pair of sunglasses. Now as nice as this is, I don’t think I could handle an entire afternoon alone with you, so how about some moral support?”

These odd series of events lead to an even odder predicament. Marinette was going shopping with Chloe Bourgeois of all people. And not only that, the blonde had also invited not only her Adrikins but also bloody Kagami. Marinette didn’t even know the two girls knew each other.

Adrien lead Marinette to a small boutique whilst Kagami dragged Chloe to a cryptic sword shop next door. While looking at some skirts, Marinette couldn’t help but giggled at her predicament. 

“How on Earth did those two become friends.”   
Adrien rested his chin on her shoulder with a sly smile. “Oh it was all my doing actually.”   
“You’re joking?”   
“Nope.” He smiled a wide Cheshire grin.   
“Please tell me alcohol was involved.”   
“Actually no.”   
“Then how?” Marinette gasped.

Adrien placed a hand on her hair with a giggle. “Magic.”   
“Adrien.” Marinette tutted.  
“Okay so maybe not magic exactly, but a shit ton of luck.”  
“You better explain yourself Agreste.”

“So you know when me and Kagami broke up?”  
“Not really actually.” Marinette muttered, realising he had never actually told the girl the story before.

“Well it was pretty sudden, we were at another charity event and when we were kissing and um, other things,” the boy coughed awkwardly as Marinette’s cheeks turned red, “I accidentally called her the wrong name.”  
She gasped, “You didn’t.”

“Look no one regretted it more than me. It was an honest mistake. But she quickly dumped me, saying she had suspected for a long time my heart belonged to someone else. She then ran out the room crying and when I went to check on her later that night, I saw her and Chloe wrapped up in her hotel room, an empty tub of ice cream in front of them and the credits to ‘Cinderella a Twist in Time’ in the background.” 

Marinette picked up one of the skirts with a thoughtful look. “Chloe has changed a lot.”  
“Not really.” Adrien mumbled.  
“You don’t think?”  
“I know she could be a bully, and trust me, it was bang out of order. But… she was also hurting a lot. And I think, perhaps in a lot of denial.”   
“About what?”   
“Sorry it’s not my place to say. But, I’m not excusing the shit things she done, but I think deep down it was all just a cry for help. And now, well, it’s clear she’s trying to fix her mistakes.” Just as Marinette went to reply, the two other girls entered the shop. 

“Nice skirt, all though I think you’d suit the brown one more.” Chloe tutted, looking at the price tag and picking it up.   
“Oh, I was just looking.”   
“Don’t be ridiculous- oh on the other hand,” She watched as the blonde girl’s eyes caught onto a little white top in the corner, “Hmm, okay I’ll get you the black and brown skirt as long as you also get the top for it. Now jewellery...” 

“Chloe you really don’t have to do this.”   
“Nonsense, call it pay back for the times I was a bitch.” She winked. 

“Trust me, Queenie has the money.”   
“Don’t you love it when she calls you cute nicknames.”   
Kagami rolled her eyes, pushing her away from her face, “A couple more names come to mind.” “Save it for the bedroom.” Chloe shouted as she made her way to the till.

“The fuck was that?” Marinette exclaimed.  
“She always has been a big flirt.” Adrien tutted.   
“But, that was just cause she fancied you!” Adrien simply smiled at her. “Oh!”   
“Oh indeed.” He chuckled

This was one fucking weird day.

After they had been to a few shops, Marinette found herself exhausted when she stepped back in the flat, four shopping bags in hand. She had invited Chloe and Kagami over for a sleepover, with Alya and Nino away for the night babysitting. The group sat and told embarrassing Adrien stories, much to his dismay, while sipping on some wine Chloe had imported. 

“Oh you would not believe how cute he was back when we were 8. Once we were at the park and Adrien had spent hours playing with this one dog. When his father insisted they give it back to their owner and that you can’t just steal other people’s dogs, well he didn’t stop crying for a solid week.”

Marinette almost spat her drink laughing. “Trust me that is nothing compared to the state he was on his 18th. He literally pulled me into bed and refused to sleep until I told him a bed time story.” Adrien’s face went bright red. “I did?” He screeched.   
“You don’t remember?” Marinette cackled.   
“No I do not!”   
“Oops.” 

“I can’t believe I did that.” He groaned, sliding onto the floor in embarrassment.   
“It was cute.” She giggled, giving his nose a light tap.   
“Whatever you say pigtails.” 

Marinette froze, looking at her hair with a frown. She hadn’t let it down since that night. Noticing her glum expression, Adrien sat up whispering in her ear subtly, “You okay?”   
“Yeah, uh, anyone here know how to cut hair?” She was so fucking fed up having the same hair all the time. The same hair that let her down that night. 

“I’m good with a blade.” Kagami smiled.   
“If anyone is cutting Dupain-Cheng’s hair, it’ll be me.” Chloe huffed, grabbing Marinette’s hand and leading her into her bedroom, Kagami and Adrien not far behind. 

“So what kinda look are we going for here?” “N-nothing too drastic. Just a change.” Marinette replied, her fingers tugging at the ends. “I just can’t keep it like this.” Chloe sighed. “I’ve got this.” She muttered slowly reaching for the scissors.

About ten minutes in, Chloe kicked Adrien and Kagami out calling them “a detrimental distraction.” This left Marinette feeling at least a little calmer. 

“So you and Kagami seem good friends.” She stated, hoping to figure out their friendship.   
“Yeah well, I like strong women.” She giggled, “Very ladybug-esque.”   
“I guess they make good friends.”   
“Yeah… friends.” Chloe sighed. “You know I actually used to really wanna be your friend.” 

“What?” Marinette shouted in shock. “You hated me?”   
“I was intimidated by you. There’s a difference.”   
“How was I intimidating? I barely stuck up for myself until Alya came to school.”   
“You were kind, smart, funny, and everyone loved you. I guess I was just in denial, it got worse when Adrien joined of course.”   
“How so?” 

She rolled her eyes. “You were never just a friend to him… and I guess deep down I realised, I wasn’t jealous of you. I was jealous of Adrien.”   
“Chloe-”   
“But it’s all in the past now,” she sighed, “I’m glad you two still have such a close bond. And besides, I now have my eyes on someone else. Now enough of this mushy shit. Turn to the mirror.”

Marinette let out a gasp, looking at her reflection with utter shock. “I can’t- you- It looks great.” She ran her fingers through her new shag cut in shock. The blonde has also taken a little length off, with it now coming to just past her shoulders.   
“Now what do you say to curling it before showing the others.”   
“Deal.” Marinette smiled.

When she finally went to find Adrien and Kagami, both of whom were sitting in the living room watching cartoons, they jumped up and ran over to her pulling her into a tight hug.   
“Chloe done well.” Kagami whispered. 

“She really did.” Adrien muttered awe struck. He ran his fingers lightly through it, his hand gliding over to her cheek. “You look beautiful.”


	13. Chapter 13: blanket fort and pasta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise it's not a much longer wait just wanna give yall a little bit of fluff, enjoy! (Also can't believe this has over 1000 hits im in awe you all are amazing and really hope you've liked it so far!)
> 
> totally forgot, the song referenced is ricky montgomery 'line without a hook'

The next day, with Alya and Nino spending another night looking after Alya’s little Sapotis, Marinette and Adrien decided to have a little sleepover. Marinette was currently standing in the kitchen helping him to make a fairly simple creamy courgette pasta with immense difficulty.

“Is it done yet?” The blonde whined, eager to eat.  
“You only just put it on the heat!”  
“Mariiiii. I’m hungry.”  
“Suck it up.” She tutted, giving him a light hit with the spoon. 

Their kitchen was rather small, with Marinette moving to sit by the window ledge looking at the falling sun, music playing off her old radio. 

“I know what can keep me busy.” He smirked, stalking over and bowing, slowly raising his head up.  
“Care to dance?”  
“Of course my prince.” She curtsied, standing up and taking his hands in hers. 

They began to sing along ‘you’re a pond and I’m an ocean’ Adrien hummed in her ear. Giggling she moved a hand to his waist, her fingers toying with the bottom of his shirt. She stepped closer, ‘I swear that I would pull you from the tide’ Marinette replied as he picked her up and spun her. 

When she landed, her foot slightly slipped, with Adrien quickly pulling her back, “Don’t go falling for me now.”  
Marinette rolled her eyes, “I think you’ve used that line already.”  
“Well are you an angel cause you-”  
She placed a finger to his lips shushing him, “What ever happened to the innocent little Adrien I knew?”  
“You bring out the rebel in me.” He smirked. 

Marinette leaned in over his shoulder, giving the veg a quick stir, leaning quickly back into his touch. His hands tightened on her waist, a thumb softly stroking her skin in a rhythmic motion. “You gotta hand it to her, Chloe has good taste.” He chuckled, looking at her outfit. A mid length black skirt and small white crop top with spaghetti strap sleeves his other hand toyed with. “She really does.” Marinette giggled, the feeling of his skin on hers setting her heart alight and desperate for more.

She placed a leg between his a hand coming up to his face with Adrien leaning into her touch. “You really do suit the hair. You look all mature and stuff.”  
“Oh really?” She asked, looking at his wandering expression.  
Adrien gulped. “Yeah you do.”

A loud timer caused the two to jump apart, the pasta being ready. Marinette cursed the never ending interruptions. She quickly stirred in the cream and served it up with Adrien grabbing the drinks. 

“Come with me.” Adrien giggled, steering her into her bedroom. When she arrived Marinette gasped looking at the little blanket fort he had set up on the floor.  
“Adrien! When did you-”  
“I had some outside help.” He winked, Plagg and Tikki giggling from their hiding spot.

Marinette crawled inside with Adrien joining her, looking up to see the pink fabric lit up by the fairy lights he had gotten her. She snuggled up next to him, her back resting on the cat pillow she had made for him the other month as he kneeled on her own. 

“This is amazing.” She whispered.  
“I’m glad you like it.” 

The two ate their meal, with Marinette moving to rest her legs on Adrien’s lap, his thumb slowly stroking her ankle. Once they were done, Adrien put their empty plates in the kitchen, coming back with Marinette’s radio. They sat and listened to the music whispering quietly to each other. 

“Okay but if you had to pick, hamster or cat?”  
Marinette gasped in indignation, “How dare you make me pick.”  
“I always liked the thought of a hamster. Father never let me have a pet. Not even a fucking gold fish.”  
“A hamster would be nice. I think it would be good for Emm- umm my future kids.” 

Adrien lifted an eyebrow at her. “Have you by any chance named your future kids?” Adrien asked with a smirk.  
“Of course not. Don’t be stupid.” Marinette mumbled, crossing her arms with a huff.  
The blonde leant over and gave her a light poke to her side. “Aw don’t be like that. It’s cute. How many?”  
“Huh?”  
“How many kids?”  
Marinette blushed, remembering all the times she had pictured her and Adrien’s future children. “Three.” 

“I always wanted siblings. The Agreste mansion was far too big for a lonely kid.”  
Marinette inched a little closer, taking Adrien’s hand in her own. “I always imagined living in a cottage, with loads of flowers and freshly baked bread.”  
Adrien looked down with a sigh. “My mum used to want to move to a cottage. She always said the day she retired from acting she’d move out of the city. It seems nice.” 

“I can picture it now, a big garden for the kids to grow veg, and a tree house we… I mean me and my future partner will build together.”  
“I’d love each room a different colour, like stepping into-”  
“A fairytale.” The two gave a shy giggle, Marinette leaning back to lie on the floor, Adrien quickly following. 

“Do you ever worry you’ll never find love.” Adrien whispered his hand slightly clenching hers.  
“You have no idea.” Marinette huffed. “Why do you ask?”  
“It’s just… never mind, forget it.”  
“Adrien, talk to me.”  
“It just feels like everyone I love leaves me.” He sighed a small choke at the back of his throat.  
“I’ll never leave you.” Marinette whispered in his ear, her thumb stroking his palm.

The boy sat up to lean over Marinette, his eyes glossy. He brought a hand to her face, slowly caressing her cheek. “I wish we had never stopped dancing.” He sighed, a small tear falling from his face to hers. It left a warm streak gliding down her face but it done nothing to match the fire in her heart. 

“Don’t be silly. The pasta would have burned.”  
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I should never have let you go. I should have stayed by your side all night. You should have been walking those gardens with me.” His arms began to shake around her. “I’m sorry for ever letting you go.” 

Marinette reached a hand up to his waist, her own tears now starting to escape. “How about we make up for lost time.” She sighed, sitting up and bringing him with her. She got up, grabbing his hand and yanking him up next to her with a quiet “Ooph.”

Once again, Adrien placed a hand on her waist and shoulder, with Marinette mirroring the gesture. With a quick spin, he pulled her in closer, more hugging than dancing, her fingers furiously pulling at his t-shirt trying to hold him as tight as possible. 

“For what its worth, I really wanted to go on that walk.” 

Unable to give a response, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette’s waist, lifting her into a large embrace, her feet soaring in the air. Even once he had placed her back down, the pair were unable to break their gaze. Marinette searched his eyes for any sign of what was going on the blonde’s mind but found nothing. The music stopped and it seemed like all that was left in the world were her and Adrien. 

“Mari i-”  
“Adrien i-” The two giggled.  
“You go first,” Adrien chuckled scratching the back of his head nervously.  
“I.. just… um… fuck it.” 

Marinette leant up and placed a light peck on his lips, the warmth and softness of it all better than anything she had ever expected. As she pulled away she watched as the blonde’s hand came up to his lips and stroking where her touch had just been. He leant down, leaving a lingering kiss on her cheek. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for that… but I can’t kiss you back.” 

Marinette’s whole world came crashing down. “Why?” She squeaked, her head rushing with a million thoughts. He pulled the girl into a hug, dragging her into a sitting position on his lap. “You’ve been through so much these past few weeks and I don’t want to take advantage of you.” “But I’m fine, if anything, you help make everything easier!” Marinette cried.

He began to tear up again holding her a little tighter. “Marinette. You were never just a friend. And you never will be. It feels like every day of my life had been waiting for the one you came crashing into. I want to do this right. If you truly feel how I feel, then what’s another couple of weeks. It isn’t fair on either one of us right now.” 

“I- I’ll do better. I’ll get over it quicker.”  
He leaned back, resting his forehead on hers. “Don’t you dare. I already told you. I’m not going anywhere. And I mean it. But right now, you’re not okay. I… I love you so fucking much that I want to make sure I never take advantage of you. Please.” 

Marinette knew he was right. Of course he was. Mr fucking perfect. She couldn’t even leave the house most days. But she wanted him so, so badly. “You love me?”  
“I think I always have.” Adrien whispered. 

“It’s not fair...” Marinette mumbled, moving to straddle him, pulling the boy in as close as possible.  
“I know love. I know.”  
She moved to look directly in his eyes, her hands clasping his neck. “You promise to wait?”  
“Of course.” 

“Okay then. Um by the way I love you too.” She quickly mumbled into his neck.  
“What was that?” he giggled.  
“I love you too!” She shouted.  
“Mari!” Adrien exclaimed, tackling her to the ground in joy. “You’re so fucking perfect.” He giggled.  
“I know.” She winked. 

The two lay there until they fell asleep, a mess of tangled limbs and ecstatic smiles.


	14. NOTE: a quick playlist of the songs ive listened to while writing this, will add as i go x

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> please don't judge my music im ~insecure~

Chapter 1- your love's like (sabrina carpenter), obvious (taylor trensch), sports (beach bunny), skin (sabrina carpenter)

Chapter 2- when he sees me (waitress), canyon moon (harry styles), you belong with me (taylor swift) 

Chapter 3- dreams (the cranberries), pretty face (PUBLIC), first day of my life (bright eyes), naked as we came (iron and wine), all too well (taylor swift), daddy issues (the neighbourhood), strawberry kisses (olivia herdt)

Chapter 4- gotta go my own way (high school musical), body (mother mother), boys don't cry (the cure), out tonight (rent), back to black (amy winehouse), prom queen (beach bunny)

Chapter 5- does your mother know (abba), jeepster (T.Rex), the cult of dionysus (the orion express), flourescent adoloscent (arctic monkeys), mardy bum (arctic monkeys), carry on (fun), what the hell (avril lavigne), move to san francsico (circa waves), mamma mia(abba), talk too much (COIN), all my friends are falling in love (the vaccines)

Chapter 6- skinny love (bon iver), sunday morning (the velvet underground), illict affairs (taylor swift), cloud 9 (beach bunny), liability (lorde), meet me in the pale moonlight (doug hoyer), vanilla curls (teddy hyde), backyard boy (claire rosinkranz)

Chapter 7- dogwood (jenny lewis), love story (taylor swift), paris (new west), it hurts until it doesn't (mothers), lvr boy (awfultune), you were good to me (jeremy zucker and chelsea cutler), sausalito (lydia luce), a soulmate who wasn't meant to be (jess benko), drivers license (olivia rodrigo)

Chapter 8- good old fashioned lover boy (queen), love fool (the cardigans), you & jennifer (bulow), silly girl (chloe moriondo), the nice guy (toppi mcgarry), all you wanna to (six the musical), nice guys (beach bunny), take me to church (hozier)

Chapter 9- snow (ricky montgomery), all grown up (bare a pop opera), me and my husband (mitski), francis forever (mitski), funeral (phoebe bridgers), o children (nick cave & the bad seeds), runaway (AURORA), exile (taylor swift), the cut always bleeds (conan gray), nothings gonna hurt you baby (cigarettes after sex), oom sha la la (haley heynderickx)

Chapter 10- new perspective (panic! at the disco), the night we met (lord huron), 30 minutes (adam melchor), to be alone with you (sufjan stevens), she (dodie), sweet thing (david bowie)

Chapter 11- foundations (kate nash), when we were young (adele), naive (the kooks), all you had to do was stay (taylor swift), achilles come down (gang of youths), icarus (bastille), please never fall in love again (ollie MN), oh ana (mother mother), no children (the mountain goats)

Chapter 12- verbatim (mother mother), our last summer (mamma mia), i kissed a girl (katy perry), prom dress (mxmtoon)

Chapter 13- line without a hook (ricky montgomery), cherry wine (hozier), turning page (sleeping at last), champagne problems (taylor swift), can't help falling in love (elvis presley), rock n roll with me (david bowie), the things we knew last night (circa waves)


	15. Chapter 14: dresses and picnics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so i'm reaching the climax of this story and have another story idea i am currently planning and unsure whether to stick to the 50,000 words for this i planned and wait a little longer to start the next one or perhaps do 40,000 as the last few chapters would just be fluff. not really decided yet so any feedback/opinions would be greatly appreciated

“No way you only ‘had dinner’.” Alya snorted, biting into a tuna sandwich.  
Marinette sighed, looking off to the side. “Why not?”  
“Because,” the reporter roller her eyes, “i fail to see how that lead to me finding you all snuggled and loved up the next morning.” 

The other girls at the picnic gasped.

“Finally got a piece of that Agreste ass?” Alex cackled, fizzy juice going up her nose.   
“I bet he was gentle.” Mylene sighed.  
“Aw I remember Julia and I’s first time like it was yesterday.”

“We did not sleep together!” Marinette squealed. Alya raised a questioning brow. “Okay well we slept together, but not like that. We genuinely just slept.”   
“But it would have been perfect the soft music, the fairy lights...”   
“Alya! Enough, we barely even kissed.” 

Oops.  
“What?” All the girls screeched.

Okay so she wasn’t planning on telling them her and Adrien had kissed at all. But oh was it nice to say, “Uh yeah. I kinda kissed him...” 

The girls leant in closer, eager for details. “It’s just, he gave me this look and my stomach went ‘gwahhhhh’ and next thing I know I plant one right on him.”   
All the girls cheered with Alya pulling her best friend into a tight hug. “I knew you could do it, hold on. What did you do after it then?”  
Marinette’s faced developed a furious blush. “We um, decided to wait before going any further.”

“Cause four years wasn’t long enough?”   
“No it’s just, well ever since the ball… right okay fuck it. I’ll just tell you.”  
Alya quickly held a hand up, a worried look on her face, “Hold up. You don’t need to tell us anything you don’t want to.”   
God she loved her friend.

“It’s fine. I want to, really. I um, made a promise myself to do whatever I can to heal. And,” she choked a little, “I could really do with all of your support.” Marinette sighed, looking around at all her loving girl friends.   
“Take your time.” Juleka replied.

Marinette nodded, quickly trying to gather her thoughts. “Okay well number one I’d like to apologise for my behaviour at the party the other night, I don’t imagine it was very nice to see me like that but I uh, was going through some shit.” She began to tap on her leg, nerves making her voice wobble. 

“Um right so at the uh charity ball the other week Adrien introduced me to a designer before going off to dance with Kagami. I was obviously sad about it, so James offered to give me a back stage tour. He was sweet and a good person to chat to, but I couldn’t get my mind off Adrien, I guess that’s why it took me so long to realise he was leading me further into the gardens. When I tried to turn back he cornered me into a bush and tried to kiss me.” 

The girls all gasped, Alya and Rose reaching out for Marinette’s hands and squeezing. 

“Only, when I pushed him away he just got angrier. He managed to pin me to the ground, luckily I was able to knee him in the jaw.” Alex snorted at that. 

“When I told him to leave me alone he threatened to tell everyone he had fucked me anyway. And I honestly have no clue what came over me. But I just kept punching, and punching him. I felt so humiliated and scared I ran straight home and threw up… If it wasn’t for Chat Noir, I’d have been akumatized.” 

“How did he know to find you?” Alya asked softly.   
“That’s a good question.” Marinette snorted. 

“Anyway after me and Adrien’s fight the other night, I helped him piece together what had happened. So when I kissed him, he assured me that he wanted to do it back, but wanted to make sure I was in a better frame of mind… make sure he wasn’t taking advantage of me like James had.” 

“Trust sunshine boy.” Alex nodded, pleased with the blonde’s decision. 

By the end of her story, Marinette had broken into a full blown sob, with her group of friends piling onto her in a massive group hug.   
“I’ll kill the bastard.” Alya swore.   
“Join the club.” Rose hissed, rubbing comforting circles on Marinette’s back. 

When they all let go, her friends all made sure to tell Marinette how proud they were of her being able to tell them. After it was all out in the open, and with the support of her friends, Marinette couldn’t help but feel a little lighter. As though a slight fraction of her worries had floated away with her words. Right now she felt safe and loved. 

That evening, Adrien had booked them a table at an outside restaurant by the Eiffel Tower which Marinette would have been far more nervous for if they weren't joined by a certain DJ and reporter. Marinette sat next to Adrien, his hand on her leg as she spoke about her recent TV marathon of Rupaul’s Drag Race. 

“It’s insane what some of these people can do with makeup and padding. And oh my god there was this dress that transformed into another one… it was amazing.” Marinette gasped, the designer in her freaking out.   
“I’ve always been a little jealous of the girl models who got to wear dresses.”   
Adrien murmured into his glass, clearly already feeling the effects of his drink. “Surely you’ve got to model one in all these years.”   
“Not even a skirt.” He sighed. 

“Hell even Nino’s worn o-”   
“Alya!” Nino screeched his face growing bright red.   
“I was just referring to that spiderman maid costume from lychee.” She snorted, “What were you thinking of?” 

“Honestly, you have like the perfect build for one.” Marinette mumbled.   
Adrien turned to her wide eyed, “Really?” 

“Dude, you do have a fairy tail princess vibe about you.”   
“Why thank you bro.” 

Marinette leant into Adrien, whispering in his ear,   
“You know what this means right?”   
“I- what?”   
“Makeover tonight.” She giggled, booping him on the nose. “Princess.”

Their food arrived and feeling a little tired, Marinette rested her head on Adrien’s shoulder, blushing at the happy smile on her two friends’ faces. 

Eventually the four managed to stumble back into the flat with the group making their way to Marinette’s room for the long anticipated fashion show. She leant into her wardrobe and pulled out a few of the garments she had made for an apprenticeship last spring, pulling out the perfect one. 

Alya planted Adrien onto Marinette’s desk chair, grabbing a makeup bag and array of brushes while Marinette made some dress alterations. Finally Adrien left to get changed, coming back out in his best catwalk. 

His legs shook a little in the heels, while Nino filmed his friend walking up and down in a gorgeous black off the shoulder tulle gown. Marinette practically pounced the boy when he was finished showing off, tugging at parts of the fabric, amazed at how well it fit. 

“Now this is the shit you’re dad should have you doing.”   
“As though Mr Agreste would ever allow his son to be seen in anything like this.” Adrien sighed. “But it would make photo shoots a lot more interesting.” 

“I love Gabriel designs, but I must say, his men’s lines are pretty dull.”   
“No shit.” Adrien laughed dryly.   
“Well, I promise to have you model my hottest dress in my first fashion show.” Marinette giggled. “Really.”   
“As long as you learn to walk in heels.” The two smiled at each other with Adrien leaning down to give her a peck on the head.

Marinette sat in pure bliss as Adrien went to change back into his own clothes. Realising Nino and Alya were smirking at her, Marinette quickly jumped up announcing she was off to make a mug of tea. 

She stepped into the kitchen, humming the song her and Adrien had danced to back at Chloe’s birthday all those years ago. The loud noise of the kettle boiling, masked an approaching presence until she felt two hands spinning her round, picking her up by her legs and plopping her onto the kitchen’s counter. 

She gasped in shock,“Adrien!”   
“Marinette!” He mimicked.   
She wrapped her legs around his, pulling him closer. “Sly cat.”   
“Why thank you.”

Adrien leant in closer, his hands cupping her neck. “I can’t believe how lucky I am.”   
“What?”   
“Every moment I spend with you is like a dream I never wanna wake up from.” He sighed, a look of pure adoration in his eyes.   
“You’re tipsy.” Marinette giggled.   
“So?” 

Marinette stroked the hands on her neck. “Anyway, I’m the lucky one.” She leant a little closer, pressing feather like kisses on his cheeks.   
“Mari-”   
“Don’t worry it’s just a friendly, friends kiss.”   
“Well in that case.” He smirked, his hands sliding down her waist and lips coming up to her nose, kissing it with a loud smack. 

The two burst into giggles, Marinette once again resting her head on his shoulder. “I- I told the girls about what happened.”   
“Really?” Adrien gasped.   
“Yeah, I think it might have really helped.”   
Adrien placed his head on top of hers, breathing in deeply, the smell of baked goods filling him with delight. “I’m so proud of you Marinette.” 

Marinette lifted her head, forcing the boy to look her in the eye ready to speak when a crash could be heard outside followed by Nino and Alya coming running into the kitchen. 

“Perfect timing as usual.” Marinette moaned. “Um, I think I forgot something in the bathroom.” She shouted, hopping off the counter.   
“Uh yeah, actually I forgot my socks in my bedroom.” Adrien mumbled running to his room. 

Alya and Nino watched the pair with raised eyebrows. “Subtle.”

Now as you may have figured by this point, I’m a lazy bastard and hate writing fight scenes so la la la they fought ,they won, pound it and all that stuff.

Once the akuma was defeated, Chat pulled Ladybug into a large hug. “Brilliant as ever Bugaboo.” He smiled.   
“What’s got you in such a good mood huh?”   
“Good company.” He smiled, pulling her into him and beginning to dance on top of the rooftop. 

“Chat we’ll be de transforming soon.”   
Her partner began to hum, twirling her and pulling her back in. “Yeah, yeah. Just one little dance. Your hair looks gorgeous in the moonlight, have I ever told you that before?” 

It had been so long since Chat had flirted with her as Ladybug, she couldn’t help but melt a little. “Not for a long time.”   
“Well you should know it. And my my is that cookies I smell, and perhaps wine.”   
Ladybug rolled her eyes, thinking to the five or six drinks she and Adrien had sipped that night.   
“I could ask the same for you Mon Chaton.” She giggled.   
Chat’s ring began to beep. “Best be off, see you very soon My Lady.” He giggled.

When Marinette got back to the flat, she found Adrien sitting in her room, now changed in his pyjamas, looking at her with a goofy grin. She came to sit next to him, pulling his head into her lap and stroking his head. “You’re in a good mood.”   
“Must be the good company.” He practically purred.


	16. Chapter 15: in the rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry future updates might be a little late ive managed to get pretty ill over the week but hopefully will be back to normal soon enough! I was hoping to make this chapter a little longer but just don't have the energy sorry!!!

“Relax, he promised he’d be here.”   
Marinette sat stirring her drink with a huff. “Trust his dick of a dad to make him late to drinks. You’d think being a grown man would give you some independence.”   
Alya reached over the table stroking her friend’s hand. “Well it’s a good thing he has people like us in his life then.” 

Marinette’s heart broke for her friend. Never truly being free and bound by duty by his only close relation. It was all too cruel. The bluenette debated texting the blonde when her phone dinged. ‘Be there in an hour. Just got some last minute rearrangements.’ 

Marinette sighed, “He’ll be a while.”

It took Marinette another half hour for her to realise something peculiar about her journalist friend. More specifically, what was in her hand. She shot up from the table, ever lacking in subtlety. “I’m going to pee, Alya wanna join?” 

She pulled her friend up with her dragging her into the bathroom leaving a very confused Nino to sit alone at their table. She made her way to the sink slamming her purse by the sink. “Does Nino know?” 

Alya’s eyes widened, “What?”   
“Oh come on Als. You haven’t touched a mock-tail since we were like 14. You’re a bigger drinker than me!” She exclaimed. 

“I… I don’t even know myself.” Alya mumbled, slowly reaching into her bag, brining out a box. “I was waiting to check after dinner. But I think this is a sign.” In her friend’s hand sat a pregnancy test. 

“Oh my God!” Marinette shrieked, shoving her friend into a bathroom stall and jumping on the counter top in anticipation. “Shit. I could be an aunt. That’s if you choose to keep it! I mean no pressure! Your body and all that! But also… baby’s shoes.” 

“I bet it’s just a bug.” Alya giggled. “But of course I’d keep it. Nino and I have been together forever. Sure the timing could be better and we are only 18 but I- I think I can do this. I know I can do this.” Alya stepped out the stall, her hands shaking as she placed the test on the counter. 

“Of course you can. You know I’ll be there to help you no matter what.”   
“I know.”  
Alya smiled, leaning in for a hug before Marinette jumped out the way screeching, “Ah! You just pissed on a stick! Back heathen.” She hissed. 

Alya laughed at the girl, coming to stand next to her at the other side of the room. Marinette leaned over to place her hand in Alya’s. “Nino will be so happy.” She whispered.   
“He’d make a great dad.”   
“What will you do about uni?” 

“Go, obviously. I’m the queen of multitasking.” Alya smiled, Marinette lifting a brow. “Look I’m not stupid. I know this will be really difficult. But when I think of the thought of having a child with Nino, I can’t bring myself to regret a thing.” 

“Well just know I’m free to babysit anytime you like.”   
“Puh-lease. You’ll be too busy making your own babies.”   
Marinette blushed a furious red. “Alya!” 

Finally, the journalist sat up, grabbing the test with a deep breath. Marinette watched as her friend let out a muffled sob. “It’s negative?” Alya shook her head. “Positive.” She nodded. 

Marinette leaped into her friend's arms, crying along with her. “You’re going to be a fucking amazing mum.”   
“I can’t believe it. I feel like I should be wayyyy more panicked but I’m just so happy.” She sighed, leaning closer into Marinette’s arms. 

After a while Marinette finally pulled back with a gasp, “When are you going to tell Nino?”   
“I guess no time is better than the present.” 

Marinette watched as her friend barged back into the restaurant slamming the test on that table.

Nino looked at it, his eyes wide, slowly taking his glasses on and off again. “Is this some twisted prank?” He whispered.   
“Nope. It’s the real deal.” Alya mumbled, moving to sit next to her boyfriend. 

“You’re pregnant?” Nino asked, tears pouring from his face.   
“Uhuh.” 

Nino pulled Alya into a tight hug, placing kisses all over her face. “Shit. I love you so much. Oh my god we're going to have a mini dude.”   
“Or dudette.” Alya giggled. 

“Why don’t you two get out of here and celebrate at home.” Marinette whispered, noticing the many stares.   
“We can’t ditch you!” Alya gasped.   
“Don’t be stupid. Adrien will be here any minute. Now go and do mushy shit I really don’t want the details to.” 

Once the two ran off, Marinette collapsed in her chair with a sigh. She was so truly, unbelievably happy for the two, but couldn’t help but feel a little envious of what they had. Her mind travelled back to a memory from years ago. 

Back when Nino first became Carapace and Adrien had mentioned how he longed for a partnership like those two. She looked down at her phone, waiting to see if Adrien was any closer to the restaurant but her messages didn’t seem to be reaching him. The time quickly began to tick by with the room growing more and more empty. 

With a sigh, Marinette paid for her meal and went to make her way home, only to realise she had no idea how to get back. The restaurant was at the other side of the city. With a deep breath, she took her phone out ready to call a taxi when she realised she’d spent the last of the money in her purse on the bill. 

The sun had gone down a good few hours ago, leaving Marinette with no other choice but to transform. However, she found the street she was on rather secluded with no alleys to change into. 

The girl was ready to just risk transforming here when she noticed a group of men behind her. Biting her lip, she decided to just try walk it using google maps. Due to Marinette’s innate clumsiness and overall cluelessness at times, the bluenette managed to find herself even more lost.

The rain began to pour heavy, a shaky breath escaping Marinette as she realised the group of men were still right behind her. She looked down to her bag finding Tikki looking at her with a panicked expression. “Please just transform!”   
“I’m sick of having to be Ladybug just to prove myself. Why can’t Marinette just be enough. I need to prove to myself I’m enough. Or else… how will I eve improve.” She sighed. 

Her coat was quickly soaked through, causing a chill within Marinette. She picked up her phone dialling Adrien’s number for the dozenth time that night, waiting for it to undoubtedly go to voicemail. 

“Hey, um I’ve got myself a little lost. Any chance you can swing by and help me out.” She looked up at the nearest street sign. “I’m on 4th Crescent Road. Please hurry.” She whispered, noticing the men’s eyes watching her. 

I can do this. She repeated to herself. I’m brave. I’m strong. I’m Marinette. She tucked herself into a wall, watching the group with a curious glance. Their footsteps had began to slow down, one of them turning round with a far too familiar grin. 

“Need some help.”   
“I can manage.” She muttered to the tallest one. 

“Aw don’t be like that little lady.”   
“Let us give you a ride home.” The third man smirked.   
“I’m fine.”   
“Oh come on. Girl like you dressed like that-” he gestured to her dress, “surely you’d appreciate some company.” 

Fear set in and Marinette began to ready herself for a fight. “Got company. Thanks though.” She smiled, beggining to walk away, the tears quickly trailing down her face. 

“We’re only being nice.” One of them shouted, grabbing her arm tightly. She yanked it back with a glare, ready to start sprinting when a loud bang could be heard, the man who had just been holding onto her, crumpling to the floor. 

Behind him stood a furious Chat Noir. “Who’s next.” He asked, twirling his baton. Before the others could say anything, Chat had knocked another two down with his baton. 

He looked up to meet Marinette’s weeping eyes, quickly running over, scooping her in his arms and silently taking her to their balcony. He placed her down gently, his gloved hands wiping away a few of her tear. 

“You’re late.” She mumbled into his chest.   
“I know… I’m sorry M’Lady.” The cat whispered, pulling her into him and stroking her hair. “Why didn’t you transform.” 

Marinette broke out into a loud sob, clutching at Chat’s arms, desperately trying to ground herself. “I thought I could handle it.”   
“Of course you could. But surely it would be easier with some magic?” He asked.   
“You wouldn’t get it.” She sighed, her head tucking back into his chest with a whimper. 

“Then explain it to me princess.”   
“I’m so tired. Tired of wishing I could always be ladybug so I wouldn’t have to fear getting hurt. Tired of wishing Marinette could be strong enough. Tired of wishing I was enough.” 

“Oh Mari.” Chat whispered. “You are always enough.” 

Marinette leant back to look her partner in the eyes. Those fucking green eyes. “I thought cats hated water.” She laughed bitterly.   
“Oh it’s absolutely paw-ful. But some people are worth getting a little drenched for.” He winked. 

The bluenette leant forward, placing her nose on his blonde hair breathing in the rich scent of bergamot and honey. “I love you Minou.” She whispered into his head.   
“I love you too bugaboo.” 

Chat Noir pressed his nose onto hers a hand coming back to stroke her cheeks. She rested her face into his hand with a sigh. “Cold.” She whispered, her fingers brushing his leather claws. Her smile dropped at the memory of another pair of cold hands. “Too cold. Adrien please.” 

She looked in his eyes, refusing to blink until he de-transformed. “Guess the cats officially out the bag.”   
She placed her hand on his face, rubbing the skin his mask once was with a smile. “I think it’s been out for some time.”   
“Yeah. Me too.” 

Marinette leant a little closer, her lips ghosting over his. “Mari-”   
“No. No more. No more letting shit men ruin my fucking life. For once I am going to do what I want with my life. He doesn’t get to take away my happiness. He doesn’t get to take away my love for you.” Marinette cried, leaning forward and pressing her lips onto Adrien’s. 

He quickly pulled back with a questioning glance. 

“Minou. He took so much from me. My dignity, my confidence, my fucking dress. I’m a grown ass fucking woman and can’t even walk home alone. Can you know even imagine how humiliating it is having to rely on someone else to walk her home. People like him have taken far too much from me. They don’t get to take you away from me too.” She declared. 

“God I love you so much.” Adrien smiled, leaning in for a deep kiss. 

His lips tasted like mint sweets she used to eat as a child. His hands came to rest on her waist, pulling her in to sit on his lap. Marinette brought a hand up to the boy’s hair, pulling gently on it eliciting a light whine from him. 

As his mouth opened, she pulled harder, this time deepening the kiss as he let out another whine. The blonde raised a hand to her back, pressing so their bodies were flush together. They slowly parted for air, Adrien’s lips travelling along her jaw and to her neck causing her to let out an unexpected gasp. 

Marinette brought her hands to the bottom of his shirt, slowly creeping her fingers underneath is, scraping the skin along his sides. She ducked her head back down, pulling him into a kiss, this time a much slower, lingering one, trying to memories every small detail of this moment. His hands scraped along her hair, pulling them out her pigtails and slightly tugging. 

The taste of wine lingering from one to another. Marinette began to softly bite on his lip, never wanting this moment to end. 

However, typical for these two, Marinette and Adrien were quickly interrupted by a sneeze from Marinette. “Uh, we should head inside.” Adrien muttered, eyes foggy and lips swollen.   
“Yeah good idea. Nino and Alya will probably be wondering where we are anyway.” She went to stand up, turning her head to Adrien in shock. 

“Oh God Nino and Alya!”   
“What?”   
“They’re having a baby!” Marientte squealed, hugging Adrien tightly in excitement. 

“Oh my God. Those lucky bastards.” He giggled, pulling her inside. “I can’t wait to be their cool uncle.”   
“More like the weird uncle with annoying puns.” She smirked poking his nose.   
“Hey my puns are paw-some.”


End file.
